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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23457160">Ben Solo/Kylo Ren's Destruction of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Temple [Meta Analysis and Sources]</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Immora/pseuds/Immi%20Thrax'>Immi Thrax (Immora)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Analysis, Continuity What Continuity, Essays, Fanwork Research &amp; Reference Guides, Gen, Jedi, Jedi Temple (Star Wars), Meta, Nonfiction, Spoilers, Star Wars Spoilers, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Spoilers, Star Wars: The Last Jedi Spoilers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 06:00:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,528</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23457160</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Immora/pseuds/Immi%20Thrax</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>How did we go from "Kylo Ren personally murdered his entire class" to "Ben Solo accidentally exploded his school"? This is a compilation of in- and out-of-universe sources referencing or depicting the destruction of Luke Skywalker's Jedi temple and its students by Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, with notes and analysis focused on language choices, differences between sources, and fandom responses. Fan theories about canon discrepancies promoted conflicting views of the event, and <em>The Rise of Kylo Ren</em> further divided the fandom. While the details changed over the years, the basic summary of the event remained the same.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Luke Skywalker &amp; Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Introduction</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>
  <b>Updated:</b>
</p><ul>
<li>2020-04-19: Added <a href="#Overview">"Text overview"</a> to sum up the canon/official sources.</li>

<li>2020-04-23: Moved content into separate chapters for canon/official sources and non-canon/unofficial sources. <em>Canon/official:</em> Added <em><a href="#LeaderLeia">A Leader Named Leia</a></em> and additional commentary on fandom interpretations post-TFA, and noted publication types for books aimed at younger readers. <em>Non-canon/unofficial:</em> Recategorized non-Databank StarWars.com posts since they're on the official website but aren't necessarily canon. Added additional tweets from Charles Soule and Pablo Hidalgo.</li>

<li>2020-04-29: <em>Non-canon/unofficial:</em> Added one of Matt Martin's tweet threads from 2018.</li>

<li>2020-05-07: <em>Non-canon/unofficial:</em> Realized I'd mixed together two separate Matt Martin's tweet threads from 2019-12-24 due to a nearly identical Martin response, replies to now-private accounts, etc. They are now correctly split with further context.</li>

<li>2020-05-11: <em>Canon/official:</em> Updated "Text overview" for clarity about subjects, actions, and objects.</li>

<li>2020-06-04: <em>Canon/official:</em> Added Yoda to the notes on <em>The Rise of Kylo Ren</em>, which I somehow forgot to include before. Sometimes it's the obvious things... <em>Non-canon/unofficial:</em> Added more Pablo Hidalgo tweets and context, recent Matt Martin tweet, and Archive.org links for available backups.</li>

<li>2020-12-27: <em>Canon/official:</em> Added three books released in October 2020. <em>Non-canon/unofficial:</em> Matt Martin tweets from September and Charles Soule in November, though Soule's is not... substantial.</li>

<li>2020-12-28 and 29: <em>Canon/official:</em> Inspired by Wookieepedia Discord discussions; added material from <em><a href="#HelmetCollection">Helmet Collection</a></em> 72 and <em><a href="#CardTrader">Card Trader</a></em> (thanks to Wookieepedians!), updated <a href="#Overview">"Text overview"</a> with the various terms used for the temple</li>

<li>2020-12-31: Moved <em>The Last Jedi: The Official Collector's Edition</em> from unofficial to official because it's... well, official, and added language from it to the overview.
</li>
</ul>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h3>
  <b>Introduction</b>
</h3>
<p>This is a collection of every in- and out-of-universe source I've found that references the destruction of Luke Skywalker's Jedi temple and its students, along with my commentary on word choices and fandom interpretations across the years. The references vary on using the names "Ben Solo" and "Kylo Ren," and in how explicit/specific (ex. slaughter, destruction, kill, burn) or implicit/vague (ex. tragedy, betrayal, setback) they are about the event, but there's consistency on a few key points. Basically, I'm fascinated by how things both change or stay the same over time, and how people's recounting of what they've seen/read/heard gets distorted until people no longer know the primary or even secondary sources. This is not a finalized document since I will update it as I turn up further sources or make corrections/clarifications.</p>
<p>I grouped the references by types, then sorted in chronological release order within those groups. The "canon/official sources" are from canon and official publications including the films, novelizations, comic books, the official StarWars.com Databank, and reference books. I've analyzed these sources and summarized them in a <a href="#Overview">text overview</a>. The "non-canon/unofficial sources" are for further reading, and come from actors, screenwriters, authors, or Lucasfilm Story Group creative executives who worked on at least one of the sources and have behind-the-scenes insight.</p>
<p><b>Bold emphasis</b> mine to highlight how the event is described or only implied. Some hyperlinks in notes only work in "entire work" view due to linking across chapters.</p>
<p>These quotes and excerpts are limited to what provides enough context to understand why I've cited them. Where I have cut something within a paragraph or sentence, it's marked with [...]; when I have replaced a word for context, it's also within brackets. My notes are in <em>[italicized brackets]</em>. For the complete picture of these quotes and excerpts, please consult the primary sources.</p>
<p>Possible sources I haven't consulted (because I can’t access/read/hear <em>everything</em> said or published) include: the graphic novel adaptations; children's works aside from the junior novelizations; <em>Complete Visual Dictionary (2018) </em>and certain other books due to being limited to search-this-book and individual page previews; film commentaries; the full StarWars.com blog archives, deleted Tweets that haven't been archived, social media platforms besides Twitter, and any interviews I've yet to locate. Fun times!</p>
<p>I mostly use "destroy/destruction" because that is the vocabulary used in the majority of these sources, and because it can apply to the Jedi temple, Order, and students. The English "to destroy" can mean "to ruin" or "to kill" depending on how it's used.</p>
<p>My prior meta posts on Tumblr (with pictures!) regarding this event: <a href="https://immora.tumblr.com/post/613179229175234560/immora-ben-solo-destroyed-the-jedi-temple-the"><b>Ben Solo destroyed the Jedi Temple</b></a> and <a href="https://immora.tumblr.com/post/613809253373952000/more-on-the-rise-of-kylo-ren"><b>More on The Rise of Kylo Ren</b></a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <b><em>tl;dr:</em> Ben Solo/Kylo Solo destroyed Luke Skywalker's Jedi temple and killed his fellow students, but the <em>details</em> keep changing over the years.</b></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Canon/Official Sources</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h3>
  <b>Contents: Canon/Official Sources</b>
</h3><ol>
<b>In-universe:</b><br/>
    <li>
<em><a href="#TFA">The Force Awakens</a></em> (film/screenplay, novelization, junior novel)</li>
    <li><em><a href="#RoyalRebel">Princess Leia: Royal Rebel</a></em></li>
    <li>
<em><a href="#TLJ">The Last Jedi</a></em> (film/screenplay, novelization, junior novel)</li>
    <li><em><a href="#Secrets">The Secrets of the Jedi</a></em></li>
    <li><em><a href="#TROKR">The Rise of Kylo Ren</a></em></li>
    <li>
<em><a href="#TROS-novel">The Rise of Skywalker</a></em> (novelization)</li>
    <b>Out-of-universe:</b><br/>
    <li><em><a href="#TFA-VD">The Force Awakens: Visual Dictionary</a></em></li>
    <li>
<em><a href="#CharEncyclo">Character Encyclopedia</a></em> ("Updated and Expanded" and "New Edition")</li>
    <li><em><a href="#GalacticAtlas">Galactic Atlas</a></em></li>
    <li>
<em><a href="#HelmetCollection">Helmet Collection</a></em> (multiple)</li>
    <li><em><a href="#VisualEncyclo">The Visual Encyclopedia</a></em></li>
    <li><em><a href="#SuperGraphic">Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to a Galaxy Far, Far Away</a></em></li>
    <li><em><a href="#AEYNTK">Absolutely Everything You Need to Know</a></em></li>
    <li><em><a href="#TLJ-Art">The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi</a></em></li>
    <li><em><a href="#TLJ-VD">The Last Jedi: Visual Dictionary</a></em></li>
    <li><a href="#TLJ-TOCE"><em>The Last Jedi: The Official Collector's Edition</em></a></li>
    <li><em><a href="#CompleteVD">The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition</a></em></li>
    <li>
<em><a href="#CardTrader">Card Trader</a></em> (multiple cards)</li>
    <li><em><a href="#UltimateSW">Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition</a></em></li>
    <li><em><a href="#TROS-VD">The Rise of Skywalker: Visual Dictionary</a></em></li>
    <li><em><a href="#SWBook">The Star Wars Book</a></em></li>
    <li><em><a href="#FascinatingFacts">Fascinating Facts</a></em></li>
    <li><em><a href="#LightsaberCollection">The Lightsaber Collection</a></em></li>
<b>StarWars.com Databank:</b><br/>
    <li><a href="#Databank-Kylo">Kylo Ren</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Databank-Luke">Luke Skywalker</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Databank-Leia">Leia Organa</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Databank-Han">Han Solo</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Databank-R2D2">R2-D2</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Databank-Snoke">Snoke</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Databank-TheForce">The Force</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Databank-TFA"><em>The Force Awakens</em> story gallery</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Databank-TLJ"><em>The Last Jedi</em> story gallery</a></li>
    </ol><p>
<a href="#Footnotes1">Footnotes</a><br/>
<a href="#ClosingThoughts">Closing thoughts</a><br/>
<a href="#Overview">Text overview</a></p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
</p><h3>
  <b>IN-UNIVERSE</b>
</h3><p>
  <a id="TFA" name="TFA"></a>
</p><h4>
<br/><em>The Force Awakens</em>
</h4><h5>Film written by Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams, and Michael Arndt (Dec 18, 2015)</h5><p class="indent">[Han to Rey and Finn]: “He was training a new generation of Jedi. <b>One boy, an apprentice turned against him, destroyed it all</b>. Luke felt responsible... He just walked away from everything.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><pre>  <div class="center">She turns to look -- we PIVOT -- and see a <b>BURNING TEMPLE AT NIGHT</b>. We PAN to:<br/>
<a id="TFA-script" name="TFA-script"></a>R2-D2 -- who <b>watches the flames</b> -- and a MAN appears (LUKE, whose face we do not see). He falls to his knees, reaches out to the droid -- with a MECHANICAL RIGHT HAND.<br/>
We PUSH IN ON REY as RAIN BEGINS -- and DAY TURNS TO NIGHT -- and she LOOKS UP -- we TILT UP --<br/>
To see we're LOOKING UP AT A WARRIOR as he is STABBED BY A FIERY LIGHTSABER! He screams and falls to the ground -- we FOLLOW HIM, revealing Rey again, now in a nighttime battlefield. She gets to her feet, frightened by what she sees. We PIVOT AROUND HER to REVEAL KYLO REN, and the six other KNIGHTS OF REN, who flank him!</div>
</pre><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><h5>Novelization by Alan Dean Foster (Dec 18, 2015)</h5><p class="indent">[Han to Rey and Finn]: “He was training a new generation of Jedi. There was no one else left to do it, so he took the burden on himself. Everything was going good, until <b>one boy, an apprentice, turned against him and destroyed it all. Everything Luke had worked toward: gone</b>. Luke felt responsible. He walked away from everything.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">“She was standing, she was sitting, she was looking up—to see someone, <b>a warrior, take the full force of the lightsaber</b>. He screamed and fell.</p><p class="indent">“<b>Battlefield then, all around her.</b> Putting a hand to her mouth, she rose and turned. As she turned, she found herself confronted by <b>seven tall, cloaked figures, dark and foreboding, all armed</b>. Soaked and shivering, she stumbled backward, turning as she half fell. <b>Firelight illuminated her, firelight from a distant, burning temple.</b></p><p class="indent">“The seven vanished. A sound made her turn, and she blinked in surprise at the sight of a small blue-and-silver R2 unit. A new figure appeared. Falling to his knees, he reached out to the droid with an artifice of an arm—metal and plastics and other materials with which she was not familiar.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><h5>Junior novelization by Michael Kogge (Dec 18, 2015)</h5><p class="indent">[Han to Rey and Finn]: Han hesitated, then let out a breath. “He was training a new generation of Jedi. <b>One boy—an apprentice—turned against him and destroyed it all</b>.” Han's wrinkles seemed to multiply at the recollection. “Luke felt responsible. He walked away from everything.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">“The recipient of [the lightsaber's] swing was a man. She couldn't see his face. But she could hear his scream.</p><p class="indent">“Drenched, she got up. <b>Seven warriors, swathed in dark cloaks, advanced on her</b>.</p><p class="indent">“Rey tried to run. Tripping again, she glimpsed <b>fire in the night. A temple in flames</b>.</p><p class="indent">“When she turned, the warriors were gone. In their place stood another cloaked figure and an R2 astromech unit. The figure touched a metal hand to the droid's silver dome.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span><em>[The widespread belief that "Kylo and the Knights of Ren destroyed the Jedi temple together" started immediately post-release. Han's use of "boy" to refer to his son also created lasting confusion about how old Ben/Kylo was at the time— a teenager or a young adult.<a id="return1" name="return1"></a><sup><a href="#foot1">1</a></sup> The film cuts for the Forcebacks were deliberately confusing in reflection of Rey's own disorientation; it was unclear for many viewers if Luke, R2-D2, and the temple fire was a separate incident from the rainy, body-strewn battlefield with Kylo and the Knights of Ren or if those were different parts of one event. The novelizations, however, switched the order to put the battlefield before the temple fire, making it seem like the Knights of Ren's killings preceded or directly led into the temple destruction. It was also unclear in the novelizations that Kylo was one of the seven "warriors" whereas he was included in the film. With the film in mind and believing they were the same event, these could read like Ben renamed himself Kylo and joined the Knights of Ren prior to destroying the temple with them. In clarification, Pablo Hidalgo later tweeted <a href="#Tweets-PabloHidalgo-2016-04-01">[1]</a> <a href="#Tweets-PabloHidalgo-2016-04-02b">[2]</a> that these were separate places and times. Later sources discussing the temple fire did not discuss the battlefield scene, thus further separating them. Canonically, the battlefield and the temple </em>were not<em> the same event despite viewer assumptions.</em></span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span><em>Several theories spread about what happened with Luke's "new generation of Jedi" that tried to explain away non-film references materials or reinterpret Kylo as not actually a villain. One held that Han's phrase <b>"destroyed it all"</b> could mean Kylo only burned down the physical temple and broke apart the Luke's Jedi Order without killing anyone. Another disregarded "a new generation of Jedi" and said Luke had </em>not<em> started training Jedi or taken students, therefore there was nobody around for Kylo to kill. Some thought the other Knights of Ren or someone else killed the students, but Kylo did not kill anyone; he was instead framed for it. And others speculated that Kylo did do it, but was ordered or psychically forced to by Snoke.</em></span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span><em>People also debated the ages of this new generation— children/younglings, teenaged padawans, adult learners, with or without anyone else teaching alongside Luke? Answers to this particular speculation wouldn't come until </em><a href="#TROKR">The Rise of Kylo Ren</a>.</span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span><em>Until </em><a href="#TLJ">The Last Jedi</a>,<em> references to how many students died stated or implied that Kylo killed </em>all<em> the other students by not mentioning any survivors; they could have been killed when he destroyed the temple or tracked down afterward per mentions of using his interrogation chair when hunting Jedi.]</em></span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="RoyalRebel" name="RoyalRebel"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>Princess Leia: Royal Rebel</em> by Calliope Glass (Nov 11, 2016)</h4><p class="indent">“Ben Solo was seduced by the dark side, and by the First Order – a military movement that opposed the New Republic and the Jedi. <b>Leia's son killed all the apprentices Luke had been training and left his uncle's Jedi Temple in flames</b>. Like his grandfather, he took a new name after turning to the dark side – Kylo Ren. Luke abandoned his quest to rebuild the Jedi Order and vanished.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span><em>[Scholastic young readers book for guided reading P/grades 3-8/ages 8-12. In-universe, it's a post-Hosnian Cataclysm biography. Despite the young target audience, this was the first </em>in-universe<em> work that outright stated Ben <b>"killed"</b> the other apprentices. (Out-of-universe, <a href="#Databank-Kylo%22">Kylo's Databank entry</a> first plainly stated "he <b>killed</b> his fellow students.") Unlike other sources, </em>Royal Rebel<em> specified that Kylo "killed </em><b>all"</b><em> of them. Since the in-universe backstory was an archival droid researching and interviewing Leia, it could be read as Leia knew or believed her son had killed all of his fellow students, or the droid made that assumption from what Leia said.]</em></span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="TLJ" name="TLJ"></a>
</p><h4>
  <em>The Last Jedi</em>
</h4><h5>Film written by Rian Johnson (Dec 15, 2017)</h5><p class="indent">Kylo to Rey: “Did he tell you what happened? <b>The night I destroyed his temple</b>, did he tell you why?”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">Luke: “<b>I went to confront him. And he turned on me. He must have thought I was dead</b>. When I came to, <b>the temple was burning. He had vanished with a handful of my students. And slaughtered the rest</b>. Leia blamed Snoke, but it was me. I failed. Because I was Luke Skywalker. Jedi master. A legend.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">Kylo: “Did he tell you what happened that night?”<br/>
Rey: “Yes.”<br/>
Kylo: “No. <b>He had sensed my power</b>, as he senses yours. <b>And he feared it</b>.”<br/>
Rey: “<b>Liar</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">Luke: “<b>I saw darkness.</b> I'd sensed it building in him. I'd see it at moments during his training. But then I looked inside... and <b>it was beyond what I ever imagined. Snoke had already turned his heart. He would bring destruction, and pain, and death... and the end of everything I love because of what he will become. And for the briefest moment of pure instinct... I thought I could stop it</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><h5>Expanded novelization by Jason Fry (Mar 6, 2018)</h5><p class="indent">“When <b>her family had been broken by betrayal</b>, Luke's agony and guilt had whipped the Force until it felt like a storm-wracked sea. She had been able to feel the churn of her brother's emotions even as he had retreated, abandoning her in her most desperate hour. Overcome by her own anger and sorrow, she had let him go, and for a time she had wanted him far away.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">“How's that going?” Kylo asked, amused. Then his eyes flashed. “Has he told you what happened, <b>the night I destroyed his temple</b>? Has he told you why?”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">“<em>Ben Solo—no longer a boy but not yet a man—<b>looks up in surprise and alarm</b>. His uncle Luke has come into his chambers, at night, and now stands over him. <b>There is no sign of trouble—Luke is unarmed</b>—but <b>his Master's face is creased with concern. And the Force is aboil with danger</b>.</em></p><p class="indent">“<em>Ben's hand reaches up, not toward Luke but beyond him, to the stones of the ceiling. <b>Bidding those stones to obey his command and come crashing down on Luke's head. To crush and bury him</b>.</em></p><p class="indent">“<b>He must have thought I was dead</b>,” Luke said. “When I came to, <b>the temple was burning. He had vanished with a handful of my students and slaughtered the rest</b>. Leia blamed Snoke, but it was I who broke that family. I failed. Because I was Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master. A legend.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">“Did he tell you what happened that night?” Kylo asked.
    </p>
<p class="indent">“Yes,” Rey said, <b>knowing Kylo could see that wasn't true</b>.</p>

<p class="indent">“No,” he said. <em>[...]</em></p><p class="indent">
  <em>“Ben Solo—no longer a boy but not yet a man—<b>looks up in surprise and alarm</b>. His uncle Luke has come into his chambers, at night, and now stands over him. The Jedi Master's face is twisted in a snarl—and lit by the green blade of his lightsaber. <b>The Force is aboil with danger.</b> For a moment regret shadows Luke's face, but <b>Ben can see his uncle has gone too far to turn back</b>. He will not falter or hesitate; rather, he will bring his lightsaber down and cleave his nephew in two while he sleeps.</em>
</p><p class="indent">
  <em>“Desperate, Ben's hand reaches out, not toward Luke but beyond him, to the lightsaber he has constructed. Willing it into his hand, its blue blade <b>blocks the killing blow</b>. The locked blades buzz and spark. But Ben knows this is only a brief reprieve—he can't resist his master's far greater powers for long. Trapped, he reaches up toward the ceiling with his free hand, <b>begging the stones to heed his plea and come crashing down on Luke's head. To save him</b>.”</em>
</p><p class="indent">“<b>He had sensed my power</b>, as he senses yours,” Kylo said. “<b>And he feared it</b>.”</p><p class="indent">“<b>Liar</b>,” Rey said, but there was no conviction behind it. She could feel that <b>what Kylo had told her was true—or at least he wasn't trying to mislead her</b>. And hadn't she sensed <b>Luke's guilt and self-reproach</b>? What if he had gone into exile not because of what the apprentice had done to the teacher, but because of what the teacher had done to the apprentice?”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">
  <em>“Luke Skywalker looks down at his nephew Ben Solo—no longer a boy but not yet a man. He has come into his chambers, at night, and now stands over him. The Jedi Master's eyes are closed. <b>The Force is aboil with danger</b>. Worry shadows Luke's face as he extends his hand, reaching out with the Force—reaching into the sleeping Ben's mind. [...] But he can see: <b>fire, and ruin, and the sightless eyes of the dead. And he can hear: screams, and the howl of lightsabers, and the roar of explosions.</b></em>
</p><p class="indent">“<em><b>Darkness—expanding from this slim, dark-haired boy to shroud everything—and the cacophony of terror that will accompany it</b>. Luke draws his hand back, as if burned. <b>The Force around Ben has always been shot through with veins of darkness, but what he's seen is beyond anything he'd feared to find</b>.</em></p><p class="indent">“<em>Luke removes his lightsaber from his belt and ignites the blade, his eyes grave. But then he looks at Ben and <b>the brief, almost unwilling thought is gone</b>. He cannot bring his lightsaber down on his sister's son while he sleeps.</em></p><p class="indent">“<em>And immediately Luke knows it is too late—he has already failed his student. Because <b>Ben's eyes are open—frightened but aware</b>. The boy's powers with the Force are already immense, and still growing. And he is a Skywalker.</em></p><p class="indent">“<em><b>He knows what Luke thought.</b></em></p><p class="indent">“<em><b>He knows what Luke saw.</b></em></p><p class="indent">“<em><b>He knows what will be.</b></em></p><p class="indent">“<em>Desperate, Ben's hand reaches out, not toward Luke but beyond him, to the lightsaber he has constructed. Willing it into his hand, its blue blade <b>a killing blow aimed at his Master</b>. Luke's own blade meets Ben's and the locked lightsabers buzz and spark. <b>Then Ben reaches up toward the ceiling with his free hand, compelling the stones to come crashing down on Luke's head</b>.”</em></p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><h5>Junior novelization by Michael Kogge (Mar 6, 2018)</h5><p class="indent">“And how's that going?” Ren asked with a chuckle. “Has he told you what happened? <b>The night I destroyed his temple</b>? Has he told you why?”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">“Luke looked into the cavern's shadows. Some moments passed before he spoke. “One night I came to him in his sleeping quarters, to see if I could resolve the matter.” His voice strained. “He woke and saw me standing there, and then... <b>the darkness exploded within him</b>. He called on the Force to bring down the ceiling on me. I was incapacitated and it was a long time before I dragged myself out of the rubble. <b>He must've thought I was dead</b>.”</p><p class="indent">“Luke turned back to the pool. Its waters were still and clear. “When I came to, <b>the temple was burning. Kylo left with a handful of my students and slaughtered the rest</b>.”</p><p class="indent">“His story triggered Rey's memory. She recalled the vision she'd had on Takodana of Luke, cowled in a black cloak, kneeling and touching R2-D2 with his artificial hand. <b>A structure burned in the background. It must have been the temple that Luke had built</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">“Did he tell you what happened that night?”</p><p class="indent">“Yes,” she said. <b>But she doubted Luke had told her every detail—and she knew Ren could sense her doubt</b>.</p><p class="indent">“No he didn't,” Ren said.</p><p class="indent">“A new vision came to Rey, showing Kylo Ren's personal quarters in the Jedi temple. Ren slept on a pallet, visible in a crackling green glow.</p><p class="indent">“Luke Skywalker, robed in black, hovered over him, holding his lightsaber. The Jedi Master's face was not the aged and tired one Rey knew, but <b>a twisted and tormented face. The face of a monster</b>.</p><p class="indent">“<b>Luke lowered his saber to kill the youth</b>.</p><p class="indent">“But Ren was already awake and called his own lightsaber to him. <b>His blue blade parried Luke's green one</b>. The swords sizzled. Energy sparked. Ren stretched out with his other hand to the ceiling. It quaked, fractured, and then caved in on Luke Skywalker.</p><p class="indent">“<b>Liar</b>,” Rey said, cutting off the vision. <b>Luke may not have told her all the truth, but he could never be a murderer</b>.</p><p class="indent">“Could he?”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">“<b>I saw darkness</b>,” Luke said. [...] He remembered holding his hand over his sleeping nephew, then closing his eyes as he searched Ben's mind.</p><p class="indent">“<b>I had sensed the darkness building in him</b>. I had seen it in moments during his training. But then I looked inside, and <b>it was beyond what I ever imagined</b>.”</p><p class="indent">“<b>Horrible thoughts that weren't his own bubbled up like splattering lava. Ben screamed, Ben shrieked, Ben killed, Ben changed. A blue lightsaber replaced by a crackling red one.</b> Still, Luke kept himself rooted in <b>the memory,</b> as much as it caused him pain. “<b>Snoke had already turned his heart. He would bring destruction and pain and death and the end of everything I loved because of what he would become.</b> And for <b>the briefest moment of pure instinct, I thought I could stop it</b>.”</p><p>
  <a id="TLJ-notes" name="TLJ-notes"></a>
</p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Kylo outright told Rey, <b>"I destroyed his temple."</b> This is an unambiguous statement of action, not one of passivity. Kylo acted; he was not acted upon or passive in the destruction of Luke's temple. While unambiguous about who did it, it's also not specific about his actions. He didn't say how he destroyed the temple, just that he did it. "Temple" could mean only the temple building or include the temple population. Kylo never specified any students, dead or alive, in this or other sources. He's both unambiguous and unspecific.</em>
  </span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span><em>And then it gets </em>messy<em>... ier. Luke described events he was unconscious for and omitted extremely significant details the first time he told Rey, making him an unreliable narrator. Kylo's version was framed as a distortion or personal interpretation that may hold emotional truth for him. Luke's second retelling, however, was framed as the actual truth. Ben collapsed his hut on Luke after waking up to see Luke with a lightsaber, Luke was knocked out under the rubble for some time, and woke up to observe the aftermath of destruction; his temple was on fire, some of his students were dead, and other students were missing along with Ben. Luke's word choice of <b>"slaughtered"</b> implies signs of brutal or indiscriminate violence towards the dead. Kylo's flashback told Rey he destroyed the temple because Luke was afraid of Ben's power, came to murder him in his sleep, and Ben woke up just in time to defend himself from a killing blow; apparently Kylo felt this justified destroying the temple and not just stopping Luke. In- and out-of-universe sources and non-canon commentary consistently stated Luke never attempted to kill Ben; he had a </em>moment of pure instinct<em>— a reflexive response to Ben's darkness and future crimes, not a premeditated intent or a thought he consciously chose to act upon— that he could prevent Ben from carrying out what he saw in Ben's mind. Luke's moment of instinct and ignited lightsaber were enough for Ben to perceive his life was in imminent danger.</em></span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>Jason Fry expanded the flashbacks in his novelization. He tweeted <a href="&lt;a%20name=">this commentary</a> in a <a href="https://twitter.com/jasoncfry/status/1066724334469857280">long thread</a> on his writing process: "My key addition to the third flashback -- one of those things easier done on-page than on-screen -- is that <b>Luke knows what he saw in Ben's mind will come to pass, and Ben knows it too</b>." Just going by this novelization, Ben had either already considered or committed to dark actions, previously had visions he'd do so in the future, or both; the tweets state it's at least shared knowledge of what "will come to pass." Michael Kogge's junior novelization added the detail of Luke seeing a crackling red lightsaber— Kylo's in the future— which would point towards the future. In Fry's additions, Ben desperately responded to that shared awareness when he attempted a killing blow with his lightsaber and then collapsed his hut; he wasn't acting purely in self-defense, though that was an important part of it. When Luke spoke with certainty about things he didn't witness, it may reflect seeing the future within Ben's mind— he may know what Ben did and that some students survived because Luke and Ben both saw <b>"what will be." Or he may have just assumed from the bodies present why some were missing.</b></em>
  </span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>Some of the differences between flashbacks in Fry's novelization: Ben "looks up in surprise and alarm" in both Luke's first version and in Kylo's, then in Luke's final it changed to "Ben's eyes are open—frightened but aware." In Kylo's version, "the Force is aboil with danger" when he sees Luke holding the lightsaber over him and snarling, so he calls his own lightsaber which "blocks the killing blow" from Luke, and he collapses to the ceiling "to save him[self]". In Luke's first, "the Force is aboil with danger" after Ben wakes up to see him but before calling down the ceiling; in Luke's second, this line is before Luke probes Ben's thoughts, and Ben calls his lightsaber for "a killing blow aimed at his Master" rather than defending a blow from Luke.</em>
  </span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>Certain Ben Solo fans said that since the third flashback was still Luke's point-of-view and not a neutral third party, it couldn't be taken as the truth of what happened. They accepted Luke's words as true when he described Ben as a "frightened boy," despite the contradiction in doing this, along with Luke's guilt and self-blaming that he was responsible for all of Ben's actions that night and later on as Kylo. For these fans, Luke was reliable when he made Kylo sound sympathetic and removed responsibility from Kylo for his own actions, and Luke was unreliable about anything that suggested Ben/Kylo also acted wrongly that night, particularly in causing deaths and destruction. This selective approach also extends to evaluating other in- and out-of-universe sources: does it support seeing Ben Solo as a tragic hero who's made mistakes due to manipulation, or represent him as the villainous Kylo Ren with the agency to choose good but instead choosing evil?]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Secrets" name="Secrets"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>The Secrets of the Jedi;</em> in-universe Luke Skywalker text by Marc Sumerak (Nov 12, 2019)</h4><p class="indent">“<b>[Snoke] sought to destroy our fledgling Jedi Order from the inside, and one of my pupils unwittingly became his pawn.</b></p><p class="indent">“He might now be known as the First Order's most feared warrior, but Kylo Ren didn't always walk the path of darkness. Long ago, he was one of my Padawans in the new Jedi Order. But we shared far more than just our devotion to the old ways. We shared the fabled Skywalker blood. The son of my friend Han Solo and my sister, Leia, Ben Solo was my nephew, my responsibility, and my greatest failure. Leia could see the darkness taking hold of her son and entrusted me with helping Ben find balance. Yet as the darkness continued to grow in the boy, I wasn't strong enough to keep it from taking hold. My mistakes pushed Ben further from the light—and he dragged the galaxy into the darkness with him. After <b>he burned our temple to the ground and slaughtered any students who refused to follow him to the dark side</b>, Ben donned a mask, like his grandfather before him, and took a new name, claiming his place at the side of Supreme Leader Snoke.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Insight Kids for ages 8-12. This was the first in-universe post-</em>
    <a href="#TLJ">The Last Jedi</a>
    <em> reference to the destruction (but not first out-of-universe). It was "written" by Luke (though it doesn't really fit for Luke to create a document about the Jedi when he's preparing to burn up the tree...). It again used Luke's film word choice of <b>"slaughter</b>," and added a further detail about the students Ben killed; they "refused to follow him to the dark side." Luke, of course, had no way of knowing this for certain, but the book otherwise treated him as a reliable narrator. It suggested Ben spoke with the other students and made active decisions about whom he killed and whom he did not. It was released shortly before TROS's film premiere and TROKR's comic release. TROKR told a different story.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="TROKR" name="TROKR"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>The Rise of Kylo Ren</em> by Charles Soule</h4><h5>Issue #1 (Dec 18, 2019)</h5><p>
  <em>[arranged chronologically, not in page order]</em>
</p><p class="indent">Ben: “Why? <em>Why? <b>*[red clouds in eyes]*</b></em> WHY DID YOU DO IT?”<br/>
Ben: <em>*[sees red clouds over temple]*</em> “W-what?” <em>*[red clouds erupt in lightning]*</em><br/> 
Ben: “Agh! No. <em>NO!”</em> <em>*[explosion]*</em> “I never... <b>I didn't want this</b>.”<br/>
    Voice: “And you did not choose it, Ben. The <em>Jedi</em> did. Skywalker.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">Ben: “<b>He attacked me, Tai. Tried to kill me in my sleep. And now he's dead.</b>”<br/>
    Voe: “That <em>cannot</em> be. Master Skywalker would never hurt <em>any</em> of us. And <em>you,</em> Ben Solo, could never--”<br/>
    Ben: “What? <em>What,</em> Voe? <b>You don't think I could do it? You don't think I'm strong enough in the Force?</b> I'm stronger than all three of you <em>put together</em>. Skywalker made us act like we were all equal, but you all <em>know the truth</em>. I was the temple's <em>prize student.</em> <b>And when it mattered, I was stronger than Luke Skywalker.</b>”<br/>
    Tai: “Ben, please. The story you're telling us... it can't possibly be true. <b>There must be more to what happened. The temple, Master Luke, the other students</b>... just talk to us. It can't be as bad as what you're saying.”<br/>
    Ben: “I already told you what happened here. <b>This place was a lie. Now it's over. </b>I'm leaving. You all should too.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">Temple droid: “Also, I could not help but notice <b>the rather large fire at the temple</b>. Is everything all right? Can I assist?”<br/>
Ben: “<b>Everything is fine</b>, Geegee. We're leaving. Now.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">Tai: “Where do you think Ben's going?”<br/>
Voe: “He's not <em>going</em>, Tai. <b>He's </b><em><b>running</b>.</em>”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">Tai: “There might be survivors at the temple. Maybe Master Luke is--”<br/>
    Voe: “<b>You didn't sense our teacher or anyone else. Neither did I. </b>Normally, the whole Force sings with Master Luke's presence. <b>We have to face facts, Tai. You heard what Ben said. </b>He killed our master. We need to bring him to justice.”<br/>
    Tai: “You don't know him. What Ben's had to deal with. I don't care what he said. <b>He would never do this</b>. Ben doesn't need to be <em>hunted.</em> He needs our <em>help.</em>”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">Tai: “I told you Ben wouldn't hurt us. <b>He's not a <em>murderer</em>.</b>”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">Snoke: “Let us consider what [Luke] nearly did to <em>you</em>.”<br/>
    Ben: “<b>It doesn't matter. I killed him.</b>”<br/>
    Snoke: “Do you think so? Luke Skywalker will not die easily, whenever or however that happens.”<br/>
    Ben: “<b>Easy? <em>Easy?</em> Nothing about this is <em>easy,</em> Snoke</b>.”<br/>
    Snoke: “Of course, my boy. I meant no offense. Let us put Skywalker aside for now. He has stolen too much of your life as it is. Tell me... now that you are finally free... what will you do?”<br/>
    Ben: “I've been thinking... about the <em>Knights of Ren.</em>”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><h5>Issue #2 (Jan 8, 2020)</h5><p class="indent"><em>Opening "crawl":</em><br/>
              “<b>Ben Solo has left the Jedi temple in flames after striking down his master, Luke Skywalker. But three of Ben's fellow students survived</b> and are now on his trail, determined to discover the truth. Ben fled to the one person in the galaxy he feels he can trust... a man named Snoke. Ben's path is now uncertain... but his future could lie with the fabled Knights of Ren....”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><h5>Issue #3 (Feb 12, 2020)</h5><p class="indent"><em>Opening "crawl":</em><br/>
              “<b>Ben Solo left the Jedi temple in flames after striking down his master, Luke Skywalker</b>, and fled to the one person in the galaxy he can trust... a man named Snoke. Ben believes that his path forward... the path to becoming his true self... lies with the fabled Knights of Ren. But before he could rendezvous with the legendary outlaws, <b>three surviving Jedi students</b> caught up to Ben, intent on finishing their earlier battle....”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">Ben: “Why did you have to <em>follow me here?</em> Just let me <em>go!</em>”<br/>
    Voe: “Absolutely <em>not,</em> Solo. It's too late for that.” [...] “<b>You betrayed the Jedi! How could you do that to Master Skywalker? To <em>us?</em></b>” [...] “<b>You're a <em>murderer</em></b>, and you <em>must face justice</em>.”<br/>
    Ben: “<b>You think I'm a murderer, Voe? <em>Is that what you want me to be?</em></b> Fine.” <em>*[throws her off the cliff, then tries to save her]*</em></p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">Ren: “Wait... aren't <em>you</em> one of Skywalker's students? At that temple he built?”<br/>
    Ben Solo: “Not anymore. <b>And the temple's gone. Burned. I destroyed it</b>. That's why the other students came after me. To kill me. But instead, I killed--”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><h5>Issue #4 (Mar 11, 2020)</h5><p class="indent"><em>Opening "crawl":</em><br/>
              “<b>Ben Solo left the Jedi temple in flames after striking down his master, Luke Skywalker</b>. The mysterious Snoke, in contact with Ben since his childhood, helped convince him that his destiny lies with the legendary outlaws the Knights of Ren. Ben thought he had paid the price of membership by killing his friend, Hennix. But he still must prove himself. Now, Ben rides with the knights in search of something to burn....”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent">Voe: “Ben... you killed him. You killed the Knights' master. <em>Ren</em>.”<br/>
    Ben: “Of course I did. <b>I'm a murderer, remember?</b> You're not a Jedi, Voe, and you never will be. There's no one left to train you.”<br/>
    Voe: “No... oh no... ”<br/>
    Ben: <em>*[murdering Voe]* </em>“Why do you even want to live?”</p><p>
  <a id="TROKR-notes" name="TROKR-notes"></a>
</p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[This comic mini-series started just days before the premiere of TROS. Certain Ben fans claimed the comic "proved" their belief that Ben didn't destroy the temple; clickbait articles said the "truth" had been revealed; various responses said the story had been completely retconned. The comic took "from a certain point of view" and "show not tell" approaches to the story of Ben destroying the temple without changing the fact that he did it.</em>
  </span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span><em>The art really sells the story. Two closeups on Ben's eyes showed his shrunken pupils, furious expression, and irises turned unnatural colors by the dark side. In issue #1, the panel was before the temple destruction; his eyes were the </em>exact same<em> clouded red on blue as the storm clouds that appeared in the formerly clear sky to raze the temple with lightning. In #4, the panel was before bleeding his kyber crystal; his eyes were the red-rimmed yellow we've seen on Sith like his grandfather. Lightning also links these scenes and his battle with Ren in #4 as he chooses the dark side. In #1, Ben was furious and felt betrayed by Luke, screaming and pointing his ignited lightsaber at the temple as if he'd get answers. Other works such as </em><a id="return2" name="return2"></a>The Rise of Skywalker<sup><a href="#foot2">2</a></sup><em> and </em><a id="return3" name="return3"></a>Dooku: Jedi Lost<sup><a href="#foot3">3</a></sup><em> linked rage with unintentionally-produced Force lightning from the Force user's hand; </em><a id="return4" name="return4"></a>Master &amp; Apprentice<sup><a href="#foot4">4</a></sup><em> showed it could be intentionally produced without training; </em>Star Wars Rebels<em> depicted a Force-generated lightning storm in the sky created by or as another form of the Bendu, who was the "one in the middle" shifting between the light and the dark; and the Force ghost of Yoda called down a lightning strike to burn down the Ahch-To tree library in </em>The Last Jedi. <em>These works and the comic itself support the idea that Ben's uncontrolled rage could unleash a lightning storm that set fire to the temple.</em></span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>Ben may have had no specific thought or intention, just his uncontrolled emotions, and may not have realized they could manifest in that form until it was too late to stop it. He may have had thoughts of destroying the temple, with or without thinking about the deaths of the students inside, which he envisioned before realizing he had outwardly acted on them. He may have thought of burning it all, both the buildings and the people. His reaction to his clouds ("W-what?") suggested he did not recognize or understand them. Only the person who acted (Ben), the action (Ben produced lightning), and the result (temple in flames and students dead) are apparent, while the specific reason it happened is ambiguous.</em>
  </span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>Immediately after the temple destruction, Ben tried and failed to run inside due to a backdraft explosion. He said "I never... I didn't want this." What would have followed "I never..." was unclear, but could have been "I never wanted this" before he changed to what he said after: "I didn't want this". It isn't made explicit what exactly he didn't want— he didn't want the temple destroyed, he didn't want his fellow students dead, he didn't want either of those things? He did not start questioning or blaming himself.</em>
  </span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span><em>In #1, the voice that responded to Ben (presumably the familiar Palpatine-as-Snoke voice rather than sounding like Palpatine's own): "And you did not choose it, Ben. The </em>Jedi<em> did. Skywalker." The voice framed and victim-blamed the death and destruction as Luke/the Jedi's choice. They chose their own destruction. Contrary to claims in theory articles and social media, the voice in Ben's head and Snoke in person </em>did not<em> tell Ben that he destroyed the temple or lead Ben to believe he caused it.</em></span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>Later, Ben did not present what happened at the temple as an accident, mistake, or someone else's fault. Instead, he took credit for it as if he meant to do it in retaliation for Luke trying to kill him. In #1, Tai and Voe asked him what happened and where was Luke, with nobody assuming or accusing Ben of doing it; Ben answered, "He attacked me, Tai. Tried to kill me in my sleep. And now he's dead." When Voe disbelieved it, Ben got angry with her and accused her of doubting he was powerful enough to do it. This could be his way of reframing an uncontrolled impulse or accident as a controlled choice within his power. Tai thought there was more to the story of the temple, Luke, and the other students; Ben responsed, "I already told you what happened here. <b>This place was a lie. Now it's over.</b>" Voe accepted Ben's responsibility, Tai still refused to believe Ben had anything to do with it, and Hennix thought none of it made sense. In #3, Ben answered Ren's question about being a student, "<b>Not anymore. And the temple's gone. Burned. I destroyed it</b>." In TLJ, Kylo asked Rey if Luke told her about "<b>the night I destroyed his temple, did he tell you why?</b>" He consistently presented himself as the perpetrator of the temple's destruction. No other character claimed responsibility or was suspected of being responsible within this story.</em>
  </span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>Unlike when Vader attacked Padmé on Mustafar, Ben's recognition of what he'd done and his regret were immediate, but it was brief before he closed it off and said, "This place was a lie. Now it's over." He was capable of feeling momentary regret because he was still on the edge of falling, not yet fully turned to the dark side like Vader was. Unlike Luke's single momentary impulse to kill Ben to stop him before his turn, Ben had multiple violent and murderous impulses that went beyond thoughts and became actions. After destroying the temple in #1, Ben again lashed out violently with the Force to nearly strangle Voe and throw debris at the trio, had a momentary reaction to injuring Hennix, then shut that off to continue journeying to Snoke and the Knights of Ren. In #3, he tried killing Voe after she called him a murderer, then immediately tried to save her. When Hennix thought Voe was dead and threw his lightsaber, Ben's attention split; it's unclear if Ben failed to realize reversing Hennix's lightsaber put it on a killing trajectory or if he actually wanted it to, but he looked surprised at Hennix's scream like he hadn't realized what he'd done until Hennix was dead. These scenes depict a behavioral pattern and facial expressions matching the temple destruction: getting enraged, lashing out violently, reacting with shock at his own actions, emotionally closing off, saying things like "it's over"/"it doesn't matter"/"everything is fine," then continuing the same behavioral cycle.</em>
  </span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>This pattern broke when Ben decided to kill Ren and Voe. He no longer showed any concern or regret, instead deliberately engaging with intent to kill— vengeance and furious self-defense in Ren's case, cold-blooded murder in Voe's while speaking cruel words to her.</em>
  </span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>Throughout this series and later on talking to Rey in TLJ, Kylo never mentioned the students that died, only that he destroyed the temple and (believed) he killed Luke. The story itself never named these students, nor do any supplementary materials. They were only glimpsed alive in a flashback to their training, and are otherwise the nameless dead. No students survived to become Knights of Ren, and the Knights of Ren existed prior to the destruction.</em>
  </span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>The "opening crawl" summaries within the issues used ambiguous phrasing about the temple fire. <b>"Ben Solo left the Jedi temple in flames"</b> can be read as setting fire to the temple before he departed, but there's wiggle room to interpret it as leaving behind the temple while it happened to be on fire. Prior to this comic series' publication, the Databank referred to "leaving [Luke's] plans in ruin," and <a href="#RoyalRebel"></a></em>
    <a href="#RoyalRebel">Royal Rebel<em></em></a>
    <em> used the phrasing "left his uncle's Jedi Temple in flames".]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="TROS-novel" name="TROS-novel"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> novelization by Rae Carson (Mar 17, 2020)</h4><p class="indent">“Then [Luke] had smiled, with that wide farm-boy grin that had stayed with him all the way up until <b>the night of Ben's betrayal</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Leia's fond memory of her Jedi training with Luke ended on this thought.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
</p><h3>
  <b>OUT-OF-UNIVERSE</b>
</h3><p>
  <a id="TFA-VD" name="TFA-VD"></a>
</p><h4>
<br/><em>Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary</em> by Pablo Hidalgo (Dec 18, 2015)</h4><p class="indent"><em>Han Solo: Old Habits:</em><br/>
              “But the peace of this life was not to last, and after <b>a profound tragedy</b> upended what had become normal for the Corellian, Solo returned to his old life as a tramp freighter captain, smuggler, and freelance law bender.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Leia Organa: Han and Leia:</em><br/>
              “Their feelings have stood the test of time, even though the dynamics of their relationship have been forced to change, adapting in the face of external conflicts and <b>personal tragedy</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Kylo Ren:</em><br/>
              “The lightsaber skills of Kylo Ren are, ironically, responsible for that elegant weapon and its combat forms remaining unknown to the galaxy at large. <b>Kylo Ren betrayed the other Jedi students studying with Master Luke Skywalker, and is responsible for their destruction. He has well earned the nickname "Jedi Killer," </b>whispered in the First Order ranks, as <b>it was his deadly lightsaber skills that prevented the return of the Jedi Order</b>.”<br/><br/>
              “Striding onto ravaged battlefield with bold purpose, his singed robes whirling about his lean frame, is the mysterious Kylo Ren.”<br/><br/>
              <em>[Image labels for costume]</em> “Cowl is a remnant from Ren's early training” / “Cape singed from multiple battles”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[DK Publishing's "DK Children" book for middle grades 3-7/ages 10+. It avoided major spoilers since it was released the same day as the film; it didn't mention that Han and Leia had a son or that Kylo was once Ben Solo. Instead, Han and Leia's entries vaguely mentioned "profound/personal tragedy" with no mention of a son. Kylo's sections heavily implied without explicitly stating he killed the other Jedi students: "he's responsible for their destruction," "well earned the nickname '<b>Jedi Killer</b>'," and used "his <b>deadly</b> lightsaber skills." Soon after the publication day, the <a href="#Databank-Kylo">Databank</a> was updated and made it explicit.</em>
  </span>
</p><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>The descriptions given for Kylo's costume are not necessarily a reference to the event, but fans speculated that his cowl being a "remnant from his early training" and his robes/cape being "singed" may tie back to the temple burning.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="CharEncyclo" name="CharEncyclo"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>Star Wars Character Encyclopedia</em> (multiple editions)</h4><p>
  <em>(Apr 5, 2016; "Updated and Expanded" by Pablo Hidalgo)</em>
</p><p class="indent"><em>Luke Skywalker: The Last Jedi:</em><br/>
              “After the Empire is defeated, Luke undertakes much study, travel, and spiritual contemplation, before committing to pass his knowledge on to a new generation of Jedi students. <b>The reestablishment of the Jedi Order, however, suffers a terrible setback with the coming of Kylo Ren</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Han Solo: Smuggler and War Hero:</em><br/>
              “Change is a constant in Solo's life. As a young man, he believed he made his own luck and was a man of few responsibilities. As he grows older and wiser, he has difficulty settling down to a life of peace. After <b>suffering personal tragedy</b>, Han once again returns to a reckless life in the criminal underworld.” <em>[same text in 2016 and 2019 editions]</em></p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Apr 4, 2019; "New Edition" by Simon Beecroft, Elizabeth Dowsett, and Pablo Hidalgo)</em>
</p><p class="indent"><em>Luke Skywalker: The Last Jedi:</em><br/>
              “After the Empire is defeated, Luke undertakes study, travel, and spiritual contemplation, before teaching a new generation of Jedi. However, <b>the new Jedi suffer a terrible setback with the coming of Kylo Ren</b>. Blaming himself, Luke goes into exile and shuts himself off from the Force.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[DK Publishing's "DK Children" book for middle grade/ages 10+. As with </em>
    <a href="#TFA-VD">TFA Visual Dictionary,</a>
    <em> this book was a children's publication and both editions vaguely referred to "personal tragedy" for Han instead of stating what it was. Luke's Jedi Order had a "terrible setback with the coming of Kylo Ren," which is even more vague.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="GalacticAtlas" name="GalacticAtlas"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>Star Wars: Galactic Atlas</em> (UK)/<em>Star Wars Galactic Maps: An Illustrated Atlas of the Star Wars Universe</em> (US) (Nov 3, 2016; text by editor Emil Fortune, credited to Lucasfilm Story Group)</h4><p class="indent">“At his birth, the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa was named 'Ben'. His Jedi training with Luke Skywalker <b>ended in tragedy </b>when, seduced by the dark side,<b> he betrayed the other students and was responsible for their destruction</b>. As Kylo Ren, the First Order's enforcer, he killed his father on Starkiller Base.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Egmont UK Ltd (UK)/Disney-Lucasfilm Press (US) for grades 3-7/ages 9-12. This book used "killed" for Kylo murdering his father, but <b>"destruction"</b> for the other Jedi students he'd <b>"betrayed"</b>.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="HelmetCollection" name="HelmetCollection"></a>
</p><h4>
  <em>Star Wars Helmet Collection</em>
</h4><h5>18 - Databank A-Z - The First Order (2016)</h5><p class="indent">“Supreme Leader Snoke had engineered the <b>destruction of Luke Skywalker's new Jedi Order</b> by drawing <b>the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa</b> to the dark side.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><h5>21 - Helmets: In Pictures - The Knights of Ren (2016)</h5><p class="indent">“Little is known about the Knights, except that Kylo was first associated with them after studying to be a Jedi with Master Luke Skywalker. <b>Kylo betrayed his fellow Jedi students and was responsible for their destruction</b>, an act that made Luke question everything he knew and sent him into self-imposed exile.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><h5>72 - Highlights of the Saga: Luke's Journey in the Force: A new Order? (2018)</h5><p class="indent">“Luke did not immediately rebuild the Jedi Order, instead spending years travelling the galaxy in search of Jedi secrets. The impetus to train <b>the next generation</b> came when he discovered that Leia's son, his nephew, was Force-sensitive. Tragically, Ben Solo was drawn to the dark side of the Force by Snoke, leader of the First Order. <b>He became Kylo Ren, and destroyed Luke's fledgling Jedi Academy.</b>”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span><em>[The </em>Helmet Collection<em> publications from De Agostini accompany scale replicas of helmets. The phrasing used in #21 is repeated in multiple sources in past or present tense.]</em></span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="VisualEncyclo" name="VisualEncyclo"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia </em>by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, and Tricia Barr (Apr 4, 2017)</h4><p class="indent">“Snoke corrupts Darth Vader's grandson, Ben Solo. <b>Ben, now known as Kylo Ren, wipes out the fledgling Jedi Order</b>—only his uncle, Luke Skywalker, remains.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[DK Publishing's "DK Children" book for ages 6+. <b>"Wipes out"</b> may not intentionally reference this, but reminds me of Darth Sidious in TPM ordering the Trade Federation to "Wipe them out, all of them."]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="SuperGraphic" name="SuperGraphic"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>Star Wars Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to a Galaxy Far, Far Away</em> by Tim Leong (Jul 25, 2017)</h4><p class="indent"><em>Unclear date:</em><br/>
              “Ben Solo turns to the dark side and <b>kills Luke's Jedi students</b>. After, he takes the name Kylo Ren. Luke goes into exile.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Chronicle Books; charts, graphs, and other infographics. <b>"Kills"</b> was an unambiguous word, but how many other students wasn't specified.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="AEYNTK" name="AEYNTK"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded</em> by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, and Michael Kogge (Oct 3, 2017)</h4><p class="indent"><em>Terrifying Times:</em><br/>
              “Luke witnessed <b>the tragic destruction of his attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order</b>. Afterward, he vanished from the galaxy, and years passed. Some say that he left to try and find the first Jedi temple.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><a id="AEYNTK-2" name="AEYNTK-2"></a><p class="indent"><em>REALLY?!:</em><br/>
              “Kylo leads the KNIGHTS OF REN—a scary group of dark side users. <b>They DESTROY Luke's Jedi academy and his students!</b>”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[DK Publishing's "DK Children" book for grades 3-7/ages 8-12. After all the theorizing and fanon over the supposed involvement of the Knights of Ren in the temple destruction, this is the only specific reference I've found in an official publication linking them to the event. Naturally it got cited and debated on Wookieepedia, which has since noted the inconsistency of this reference.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="TLJ-Art" name="TLJ-Art"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi</em> by Phil Szostak (Dec 15, 2017)</h4><p class="indent">“Recounting the current version of <em>The Force Awakens</em>'s backstory <em>[as of May 2013]</em>, [Doug] Chiang continued, "After <em>Return of the Jedi</em>, when the Empire fell, Luke went through a period of turmoil. He decides to reform the Jedi, Luke being the last. So he creates his own Jedi academy and recruits people." One of Luke's pupils was the character known as the <b>"Jedi Killer."</b> "Ultimately <b>he turns against Luke. There's a big fight, and the Jedi Killer is wounded and cast aside</b>. There's this big through-line of the Jedi Killer wanting revenge on Luke."”</p><p class="indent">[...]</p><p class="indent">“In late summer 2013, the Visualists were let in on two secrets that would not be revealed to the rest of the world for another year and a half: that the beloved Han Solo would meet his end in <em>The Force Awakens,</em> dispatched by the malevolent Jedi Killer—and that the Jedi Killer would be Han and Leia Organa's son.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[The author held over comments about some aspects of TFA until this book to avoid spoilers. The TFA art book had discussed developing the "Jedi Killer" into Kylo Ren without making clear that Kylo was once Luke's student and Ben Solo. The quotes above were said early in TFA's development.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="TLJ-VD" name="TLJ-VD"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary</em> by Pablo Hidalgo (Dec 15, 2017)</h4><p class="indent"><em>Luke Skywalker:</em><br/>
              “Since the <b>fiery collapse of his Jedi training temple</b>, Luke Skywalker has put that part of his life behind him, focusing instead on the task of living on Ahch-To.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Flames of Failure:</em><br/>
              “Skywalker kept the location of his Jedi training temple a strict secret, known only to members of his burgeoning Order. <b>When he found it ablaze, the grounds littered by slaughtered students, he knew the betrayal came from within. It was his nephew, consumed by darkness, who had led its destruction</b>. The wider galaxy would not know of <b>this calamity</b> for years to come.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[DK Publishing's "DK Children" book for middle grades 3-7/ages 10+. Both the TFA and TLJ Visual Dictionaries were released the same day as their respective films. <a href="#TFA-VD">TFA's</a> avoided this event due to spoilers, but Ben's betrayal and <b>"the grounds littered by slaughtered students"</b> weren't a spoiler for TLJ. The word choice in that phrase matched the film's; "calamity" was a new one only used here. "Led" suggested that other people were involved rather than Ben... solo... when he destroyed the temple.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="TLJ-TOCE" name="TLJ-TOCE"></a>
</p><h4>“<em>The Last Jedi:</em> The Official Collector's Edition” edited by Jonathan Wilkins, commemorative issue of <em>Star Wars Insider</em> (Dec 19, 2017)</h4><p class="indent"><em>Kylo Ren: Committed to the Dark Side:</em><br/>
              “The Force is strong with Ben Solo. The son of Leia—daughter of Darth Vader and sister of Luke Skywalker—Ben trained to become a Jedi under the guidance of his uncle Luke. But the darkness swiftly rose in him, and Ben was soon seduced to the dark side by the shadowy Snoke, taking the name Kylo Ren. The malign influence of the First Order's Supreme Leader send the young man down an ever darker path, <b>leading him to destroy the Jedi training temple</b>, to reject his family, and finally to murder his own father, Han Solo, on Starkiller Base.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Luke Skywalker: Beyond the Last Hope:</em><br/>
              “For many years thereafter, Luke chose not to take on an apprentice, until he came to realize just how powerful his nephew was. Ben Solo, the son of Han Solo and Luke's sister, Leia Organa, had the Skywalker blood flowing through his veins, and therefore had a natural affinity with the Force. Luke took Ben and a group of students and established a training temple, hoping to revive the defunct Jedi Order. But the darkness rising in Ben was uncontrollable, and led the young apprentice to commit <b>a terrible act of betrayal. Ben destroyed the temple and killed his fellow students.</b></p><p class="indent">“The balance between the light and the dark was shattered. Holding himself responsible for <b>the tragedy</b>, Luke attempted to bury the past—and the Jedi Order along with it—by vanishing.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Snoke: The Supreme Leader:</em><br/>
              “Eventually, Snoke turned Ben away from the light side, renaming him Kylo Ren, master of the Knights of Ren. <b>As Ren, he carried out his master's will in destroying Luke's newly revived Jedi Order. Ren killed many of his fellow students</b>, but Skywalker managed to escape and went into hiding. Snoke assigned Ren the job of hunting him down.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span><em>[Publications by </em>Star Wars Insider<em> are not usually canon and aren't produced by the Story Group, this particular issue is an "official" one. It was unambiguous about what Ben did, but wrote as if he had already become Kylo Ren when he destroyed the temple and killed many fellow students; it also wrote that it was "his master's will," as if Snoke had ordered it himself.]</em></span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="CompleteVD" name="CompleteVD"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition</em> by Pablo Hidalgo and David Reynolds (Sep 18, 2018)</h4><p class="indent"><em>Fallen Son:</em><br/>
              “Kylo Ren once was Ben Solo—the son of Han Solo and General Leia Organa, and gifted Jedi apprentice of Luke Skywalker. Learning the truth about his grandfather, Darth Vader, causes him to turn against his family and fall to the dark side. <b>Kylo betrays the other Jedi students studying with Skywalker, and is responsible for their destruction. This has earned him the nickname "Jedi Killer,"</b> which is whispered in the First Order ranks.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Penguin Random House/DK teen and young adult. This was a spoiler-inclusive update of Kylo's description in the <a href="#TFA-VD">TFA VD</a>, now with family details and a slight rephrasing regarding the temple.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="CardTrader" name="CardTrader"></a>
</p><h4>
  <em>Star Wars: Card Trader</em>
</h4><h5>ID 99152: The Journey of Luke Skywalker #41 - The Fall of Luke's Jedi Academy (Sept 25, 2019)</h5><p class="indent">“Before taking the name Kylo Ren, Ben Solo attended his uncle Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker's training academy. <b>After a confrontation that left Ben believing his uncle intended harm, he was courted to the dark side by Supreme Leader Snoke, and as Kylo Ren destroyed Skywalker's newly established Jedi Academy</b>.” <span class="small"><em>[Card can be viewed <a href="https://starwarscardtrader.fandom.com/wiki/The_Fall_of_Luke%27s_Jedi_Academy_-_The_Journey_of_Luke_Skywalker">here</a> on the </em>Star Wars: Card Trader<em> Wiki]</em></span></p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><h5>ID 119961: 2020 Base Series 2 - Luke Skywalker (July 17 &amp; 21, 2020)</h5><p class="indent">“The legend of Luke Skywalker spread across the galaxy after the fall of the Empire. But with the <b>destruction of his Jedi Temple</b>, he abandoned his desire to restart the Jedi Order and exiled himself to the remote planet Ahch-To.” <span class="small"><em>[Card can be viewed <a href="https://starwarscardtrader.fandom.com/wiki/Luke_Skywalker_-_2020_Base_Series_2">here</a> on the </em>Star Wars: Card Trader<em> Wiki]</em></span></p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[This Topps card series isn't consistent about calling the location a "temple" or an "academy", or using the same phrasing within one card.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="UltimateSW" name="UltimateSW"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition</em> by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, Patricia Barr, Daniel Wallace, Ryder Windham, and Matt Jones (Oct 4, 2019)</h4><p class="indent"><em>Luke Skywalker: Disillusioned:</em><br/>
              “Following Yoda's command to pass on what he has learned, Luke Skywalker sets out to train a new generation of Jedi. Among them is his nephew, Ben Solo, whose potential to use the Force is unmatched by the other students. Luke grows suspicious that Ben might be falling to the dark side; tragically, Luke's distrust only serves to push Ben over the edge. <b>The young apprentice lashes out against his Jedi Master, destroying Luke's new temple and most of the other students with it</b>. Overcome by <b>this disaster</b>, Luke withdraws from galactic events, going into hiding and cutting himself off from the Force.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Timeline: The New Republic Era: New Jedi:</em><br/>
              “Luke begins training new Jedi, but <b>they are destroyed by his nephew and former student—Ben Solo</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Leia Organa: Rise of the Resistance:</em><br/>
              “The struggle against the First Order is personal for Leia, as she and Han separate after their son <b>Ben falls to the dark side and joins their new enemy</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Han Solo: Family Life:</em><br/>
              “They send Ben away to train with Luke to become a Jedi. <b>When Ben turns to the dark side and renames himself Kylo Ren</b>, Han and Leia have difficulty coping and separate.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Timeline: The New Republic Era: Smuggling again:</em><br/>
              “Han Solo and Leia separate after <b>Ben joins Snoke and the First Order</b>. Han returns to his scoundrel past.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Kylo Ren: Turn to Darkness:</em><br/>
              “Trained by Luke as part of a new generation of Jedi, Ben studies the light side of the Force. However, <b>Ben later turns against his master and destroys Luke's other students</b>. Now known as Kylo Ren, he learns about the dark side of the Force from the First Order's mysterious Supreme Leader, Snoke. Snoke's teaching blends traditions of both the dark and the light sides—a tension that causes dangerous instability within Kylo. He becomes a promising pupil to Snoke and the master of the Knights of Ren.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Jedi Killer:</em><br/>
              “Much like his grandfather and uncle before him, Kylo possesses formidable lightsaber skills. <b>He puts his talent in combat to use by annihilating Luke's Jedi students</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Timeline: The New Republic Era: Traitor:</em><br/>
              “<b>Ben turns against Luke and joins Snoke</b>. He takes the name Kylo Ren and a new identity as a leader in the First Order.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Locations: First Jedi Temple:</em><br/>
              “When Luke Skywalker's efforts to train his nephew, Ben Solo, as a Jedi end in <b>disaster</b>, he is distraught.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Technology: Luke Skywalker's Green Lightsaber:</em><br/>
              “In the coming years, Luke continues to wield his blade as he rebuilds the Jedi Order. After sensing the dark side in his nephew, Ben Solo, Luke activates his saber above the young man while he sleeps, fully intent on killing him. Ben awakens and <b>attacks his uncle</b>, who immediately feels remorse. This moment leads to <b>Ben wiping out the fledgling Jedi Order. After the Order's destruction</b>, the whereabouts of Luke's second lightsaber are unknown.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[DK Publishing. This book used non-specific language in some entries ("disaster"), with others using the stronger <b>"annihilating"</b>. It returned to the idea that Ben/Kylo killed other students in combat. <b>"Destroy"</b> was used again, and it was also used for Anakin/Vader's purge of the Jedi Temple.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="TROS-VD" name="TROS-VD"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary</em> by Pablo Hidalgo (Dec 20, 2019)</h4><p class="indent"><em>Timelines:</em><br/>
              “6 BSI: <b>Ben Solo destroys Luke's Jedi temple</b>; Luke vanishes; Han and Leia drift apart.” <em>[Main]</em><br/>
              “6 BSI: Luke senses a terrible darkness in Ben. Ben fears his uncle means to kill him. <b>Ben sets the temple ablaze</b> and runs away.” <em>[Ahch-To]</em><br/>
              “6 BSI: <b>Ben falls to the dark side, and destroys Luke's Jedi temple</b>.” <em>[Kylo Ren]</em></p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>The Resistance: Leia Organa: Fact File:</em><br/>
              “The Starkiller crisis becomes a final reunion for Leia Organa and Han Solo, who had become estranged following <b>their son's fall to the dark side</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Ahch-To: Reluctant Teacher:</em><br/>
              “Ben Solo was his most gifted apprentice, and Luke spent years teaching his nephew. <b>Ben's betrayal</b> hit Luke hard.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Night of Fire:</em><br/>
              “For Luke, it was <b>a moment of instinct—a flash of defensiveness in response to a dark vision of his loved ones in anguish</b>. For Ben, it was <b>an unspeakable betrayal that confirmed every worst fear he had about his family</b>. But this singular moment was a culmination of mistakes and misunderstandings that had built up over years. In protecting his nephew from the darkest truths, Luke isolated Ben—and in that isolation a dark voice twisted Ben's fears into reality.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Kylo Ren: Descent Into Darkness:</em><br/>
              “The heir to the Skywalker legacy has succumbed to the darkest traits that have marked the bloodline. Kylo Ren—born Ben Solo—sees himself as carrying on the tradition embodied by his fallen grandfather, Darth Vader, although Ren's understanding of Anakin Skywalker's history has been twisted by a dark mentor. Supreme Leader Snoke's piercing perception of Ben's mind, his clear view of Ben's fears and insecurities, let him poison the Jedi apprentice with the dark side. <b>By the time his family came to recognize the depths of Ben Solo's darkness, it was too late.</b>”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Fall of a Jedi Padawan:</em><br/>
              “The expectations of being a Skywalker—the nephew of the last Jedi and the grandson of a prophesized Chosen One—weighed heavily on Ben Solo. Though his parents tried to build a normal childhood for Ben, when the Force awakened in him it became apparent he needed guidance. Luke Skywalker took young Solo as an apprentice, and the two traveled the galaxy uncovering ancient Jedi arcana. In time, Luke's Jedi training temple grew. With Skywalker's attention now split among multiple students, <b>Ben's focus wandered into dark corners of Force knowledge, and, like his grandfather before him, he fell under the sway of a dark master</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[DK Publishing's "DK Children" book for middle grades 3-7/ages 10+. Another day-of-film book, though this time it was also after the release of <a href="#TROKR">TROKR #1</a>. This repeatedly expressed that Ben <b>"sets the temple ablaze"</b> and <b>"destroys"</b> it. The other students were mentioned in the context of who Luke trained, but not specified in regards to the temple destruction.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
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</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="SWBook" name="SWBook"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>The Star Wars Book</em> by Cole Horton, Pablo Hidalgo, and Dan Zehr (Oct 1 UK/Oct 20 US, 2020)</h4><p class="indent"><em>The Skywalkers: Introduction [timeline graphic]</em><br/>
              “28 ASW4: <b>Ben destroys Luke's Jedi temple and becomes Kylo Ren</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Era of hope:</em><br/>
              “Luke takes Ben as his Padawan, going on to form a small Jedi temple. From the shadows, Palpatine, who survived his supposed death, uses his agents to turn Ben to the dark side. The once-promising Jedi takes the name Kylo Ren and joins the Empire's successor, the First Order. Full of regret, Luke exiles himself, abandoning the galaxy. [...] Leia is distraught to hear of her son’s fall to the dark side and her marriage breaks down.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>A new hope: Luke Skywalker:</em><br/>
              “With the end of the Empire, Luke focuses on rebuilding the Jedi Order, training a small number of students at his temple. He also trains his sister, Leia. <b>When Luke senses the dark side in his nephew, Ben Solo, he confronts him. This results in the destruction of Luke's Order</b> and Ben fully turns to the dark side, taking the name Kylo Ren.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>From dark to light: Ben Solo a.k.a. Kylo Ren</em><br/>
              “<b>Luke senses the growing darkness in his pupil and tries to intervene, but rashly. The tragic consequence is the destruction of his Jedi temple and the deaths of his other students.</b> Feeling pushed away and misunderstood, Ben flees. Fully turning from the light, he joins the Knights of Ren, killing their former leader, Ren. Freed from pressure to live up to the Skywalker name, Ben takes on the new moniker Kylo Ren and is given the new, unrestrained purpose as the ultimate weapon of Snoke and the First Order. The destruction and loss of life caused by Kylo is matched only by the terrible legacy of his grandfather in the dark side—Darth Vader—giving Kylo deadly justification.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Smuggler and rebel:</em><br/>
              “But Ben is also a troubled youth. Manipulated by sinister figures, <b>Ben turns to the dark side of the Force and destroys Luke's Jedi Order.</b> Now known as Kylo Ren, <b>Ben's horrific actions</b> cause a rift in Han and Leia's marriage. Feeling guilty, Han flees and returns to a smuggler's life alongside Chewie.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[As with prior sources, Ben <b>"destroys"</b> the Jedi temple and Luke's Jedi Order, resulting in the deaths of the other students, without specific details. It's slightly unclear regarding the sequence of Ben turning to the dark side.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="FascinatingFacts" name="FascinatingFacts"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>Star Wars: Fascinating Facts</em> by Pablo Hidalgo (Oct 13, 2020)</h4><p class="indent"><em>Kylo Ren's timeline, age 23:</em><br/>
              “Already groomed towards the dark side by mysterious voices, <b>Ben snaps and attacks Luke and burns his Jedi temple.</b> [...] Having seemingly committed to darkness, Ben goes to Snoke and then seeks out the Knights of Ren. [...] After defeating the leader of the Knights of Ren, assumes that mantle and renames himself Kylo Ren.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────</p>
</div><p class="indent"><em>Luke Skywalker's timeline, age 50:</em><br/>
              “A <b>disastrous misunderstanding</b> between Luke and his nephew <b>results in the destruction of his Jedi Order</b>, the creation of Kylo Ren, and Luke's fleeing into exile.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span><em>[This post-</em>TROKR<em> book clearly states that Ben/Kylo was the person who <b>burned the Jedi temple</b>, while noting him "seemingly" committing to darkness rather than marking that event as his definitive commitment (other sources equate them). Other people have noted the timeline error in giving Luke's age as 50.]</em></span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="LightsaberCollection" name="LightsaberCollection"></a>
</p><h4>
<em>The Lightsaber Collection</em> by Daniel Wallace (Oct 20, 2020)</h4><p class="indent"><em>Ben Solo:</em><br/>
              “The only child of Han Solo and Leia Organa, Ben Solo undergoes training at Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy in the years following the Empire's defeat. Yet despite his love for his nephew, Luke can sense a terrible darkness in Ben's future. <b>Alarmed by his Force premonition, Luke ignites his lightsaber while Ben sleeps. Accounts differ on what happens next, but Ben interprets his uncle's actions as an attack and lashes out in response. By doing so, Ben is utterly consumed by the dark side.</b>”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Diverging from the majority of other sources, this book refers to an "academy" instead of a "temple". Daniel Wallace has written dozens of SW books since 1997, but this discrepancy may have come about because he isn't a member of the Story Group. Though it probably refers to the TLJ flashbacks, all the debate within the fandom makes "<b>accounts differ on what happens next</b>" seem like an understatement!]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Databank" name="Databank"></a>
</p><h3>
  <b>STARWARS.COM DATABANK</b>
</h3><p class="justify">
  <em>[The StarWars.com Databank is the official, canonical online encyclopedia for Star Wars. However, its size and the changing nature of Star Wars canon means it sometimes has continuity issues; it also has the occasional spelling error. This is separate from the unofficial, fan-created Wookieepedia.]</em>
</p><p>
  <a id="Databank-Kylo" name="Databank-Kylo"></a>
</p><h4>
<a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/kylo-ren">Supreme Leader Kylo Ren</a>:</h4><p class="indent">“A dark side warrior with a mysterious past, Kylo Ren was neither Jedi nor Sith, but a product of both sides' teachings. Once an apprentice of Luke Skywalker's, <b>he killed his fellow students</b> and drove Skywalker into exile, becoming a First Order warlord and servant of Supreme Leader Snoke. Kylo was <b>determined to destroy the last remnants of the Jedi</b>, fulfilling the legacy of Darth Vader.” <em>[since ~<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151223004045/https://www.starwars.com/databank/kylo-ren">2015-12-23</a>]</em></p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/kylo-ren-biography-gallery">Biography gallery captions</a>:</p><p class="indent">Formerly image 1 of 14: “Ben Solo, son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, was once a promising Jedi apprentice to his uncle Luke Skywalker. But under the influence of the mysterious Snoke, <b>Ben rejected Luke's teachings and killed his other students</b>. A shaken Luke vanished into exile, while Ben donned a frightening mask pattern after the battle gear of the Knights of Ren.” <em>[previous text from ~<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171205080710/https://www.starwars.com/databank/kylo-ren-biography-gallery">2017-02-12</a> on an image of Kylo's first appearance in TFA, until updated to the below]</em></p><p class="indent">Image 1 of 25: “Ben Solo, son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, was once a promising Jedi apprentice taught by his uncle Luke Skywalker. But under the influence of the mysterious Snoke, <b>Ben rejected Luke's teachings and destroyed his temple, leaving with several of his uncle's students and killing the rest</b>.” <em>[updated ~<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180519023709/https://www.starwars.com/databank/kylo-ren-biography-gallery">2018-05-19</a> and on an image of Ben in his TLJ flashback waking up to a green lightsaber glow]</em></p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[The post-TFA update to Kylo's description was the first explicit statement that Kylo <b>"killed his fellow students"</b> rather than implying it. Nonetheless, some fans only accepted this with a reinterpretation that Kylo killed other students only in self-defense after they attacked him first. Some rejected this site as speculative or incorrect despite being the official, canonical encyclopedia.</em>
  </span>
</p><p>A post-TLJ Databank update to Kylo's biography gallery edited a photo caption to add that Kylo "destroyed his temple," and changed <b>"killed his other students"</b> to <b>"leaving with several of his uncle's students and killing the rest."</b> This reflects Luke's words in the film specifying some students survived the temple destruction instead of Kylo killing all of them.]</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Databank-Luke" name="Databank-Luke"></a>
</p><h4>
<a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/luke-skywalker">Luke Skywalker</a>:</h4><p class="indent">“After the Battle of Endor, Luke traveled the galaxy with R2-D2, seeking long-forgotten Jedi lore as he pondered how to resurrect the Jedi order. But <b>his efforts ended with one of his apprentices leaving his plans in ruin</b>. After <b>this tragedy</b> Luke vanished, and no one knew where he had chosen to spend his self-imposed exile.” <em>[since ~<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151225012653/https://www.starwars.com/databank/luke-skywalker">2015-12-25</a>]</em></p><p class="indent">“A generation later, the location of the famed Jedi master was one of the galaxy's greatest mysteries. Haunted by <b>Ben Solo's fall to evil</b> and convinced the Jedi had to end, Luke sought exile on a distant world, ignoring the galaxy's pleas for help.” <em>[added ~<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180501001117/https://www.starwars.com/databank/luke-skywalker">2018-05-01</a>]</em></p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/luke-skywalker-biography-gallery">Biography gallery captions</a>:</p><p class="indent">Image 34 of 45, putting his hand on R2-D2 (burning temple not visible but from that scene): “With the Sith defeated, Luke wandered the galaxy in search of lost Jedi lore he hoped might help him recreate the Jedi order. But <b>his efforts ended in tragedy, with one of his apprentices—the future Kylo Ren—turning on his fellow students and leaving Luke's plans in ruin</b>. Luke then vanished, the site of his exile unknown.” <em>[since ~<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170204212215/http://www.starwars.com/databank/luke-skywalker-biography-gallery">2017-02-04</a>]</em></p><p class="indent">Image 35 of 45: “With the Sith defeated, Luke wandered the galaxy in search of lost Jedi lore he hoped might help him recreate the Jedi order. <b>But his efforts ended in tragedy, as his nephew Ben Solo fell to the dark side and destroyed all Luke had tried to build. Ben became the dark side warrior Kylo Ren</b>, while Luke vanished, the site of his exile unknown.” <em>[since ~<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170204212215/http://www.starwars.com/databank/luke-skywalker-biography-gallery">2017-02-04</a>]</em></p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Luke's Databank entries have downplayed language compared to Kylo's. Initially they didn't identify Ben/Kylo, but an early 2017 update named him.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Databank-Leia" name="Databank-Leia"></a>
</p><h4>
<a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/leia-organa">Leia Organa</a>:</h4><p class="indent">“But life under the New Republic has not been easy for Leia. Sidelined by a new generation of political leaders, she struck out on her own to oppose the First Order as founder of the Resistance. These setbacks in her political career have been accompanied by <b>more personal losses</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/leia-organa-biography-gallery">Biography gallery captions</a>:</p><p class="indent">Image of 15 of 23: “Leia's political misfortunes had been mirrored by <b>personal tragedies</b>. She and Han Solo had had a son, Ben, who'd been one of Luke's Jedi trainees. But <b>the boy fell prey to the dark side of the Force, destroying Luke's efforts to resurrect the Jedi</b> and reinventing himself as the First Order warlord Kylo Ren. Amidst the pain of these events, Han and Leia's relationship floundered, and they parted.”</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Databank-Han" name="Databank-Han"></a>
</p><h4>
<a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/han-solo">Han Solo</a>:</h4><p class="indent">“After the Battle of Endor, Han faced <b>difficult times</b> in a chaotic galaxy, leading to a shattering confrontation with his estranged son Ben.”</p><p class="indent">“And he and Leia welcomed a son, Ben. But their joy was not meant to last. <b>Ben was lost to the dark side of the Force, becoming Kylo Ren</b>. When his relationship with Leia foundered, Han returned to his smuggler roots – but he and Chewie were without their beloved <em>Millennium Falcon</em>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/han-solo-biography-gallery">Biography gallery captions</a>:</p><p class="indent">Image 39 of 49: “After the Battle of Endor, Han heroically served the New Republic, and he and Leia became parents of a son, Ben. But <b>Ben Solo fell prey to the dark side of the Force</b>, leaving his parents estranged.”</p><p class="indent">Image 42 of 49: “As the <em>Falcon</em> raced for Takodana, the site of Maz Kanata's castle, Han told Finn and Rey that Luke Skywalker vanished after <b>an apprentice turned against him and destroyed his new Jedi Order</b>.”</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Databank-R2D2" name="Databank-R2D2"></a>
</p><h4>
<a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/r2-d2">R2-D2</a>:</h4><p class="indent">“After the Battle of Endor, R2-D2 accompanied Luke on many missions to recover lost Jedi lore and rebuild the Jedi order. Artoo witnessed both triumphs and <b>tragedies</b>, culminating in Luke's decision to retreat into exile.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/r2-d2-biography-gallery">Biography gallery captions</a>:</p><p class="indent">Image 31 of 37: “After the Battle of Endor, R2-D2 was Luke's companion on many explorations of the galaxy in search of lost Jedi wisdom. The pair had many adventures as Luke tried to rebuild the Jedi – an effort that <b>ended in tragedy</b>, with Luke seeking solace in exile.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Leia, Han, and especially R2-D2's entries are more downplayed than Luke's. R2-D2's only refers to "tragedy," while Han's don't specify that Ben is the apprentice who destroyed Luke's temple. Leia's include it only in an image caption rather than her introduction and history.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Databank-Snoke" name="Databank-Snoke"></a>
</p><h4>
<a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/supreme-leader-snoke">Supreme Leader Snoke</a>:</h4><p class="indent">“The Supreme Leader of the First Order, the mysterious Snoke has no permanent base of operations, preferring to contact his underlings from a mobile command post. Snoke is powerful with the dark side of the Force, and <b>seduced Kylo Ren into abandoning the Jedi path to become his apprentice</b>. But Snoke also commands General Hux and the technological war machine the First Order has engineered to destroy the New Republic and Leia Organa's Resistance.” <em>[since ~<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151220222815/https://www.starwars.com/databank/supreme-leader-snoke">2015-12-20</a>]</em></p><p class="indent">“A master of the Force and a seeker of arcane lore, Snoke seduced young Ben Solo when the Force-sensitive boy desperately needed a teacher. Snoke's influence would prove critical when Luke Skywalker finally agreed to make Ben one of his new Jedi apprentices. <b>Ben destroyed Luke's temple, left with several of his students, and slaughtered the rest.</b> Snoke then became his new master.” <em>[added ~<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171222222016/https://www.starwars.com/databank/supreme-leader-snoke">2017-12-22</a>]</em></p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="indent"><a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/supreme-leader-snoke-biography-gallery">Biography gallery caption</a>:</p><p class="indent">Image 2 of 12: “Luke eventually made Ben one of his first new Jedi apprentices. <b>But Snoke had already turned the boy's heart. Following a confrontation with his uncle, Ben destroyed Luke's temple, departing with several of his students and killing the others.</b> He then took the name Kylo Ren and became Snoke's apprentice.” <em>[since ~<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180201120442/https://www.starwars.com/databank/supreme-leader-snoke-biography-gallery">2018-02-01</a>]</em></p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Snoke's Databank page didn't originally mention the temple, but a post-TLJ update reflected Luke's description of what happened.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
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</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Databank-TheForce" name="Databank-TheForce"></a>
</p><h4>
<a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/the-force">The Force</a>:</h4><p class="indent">“<b>Luke's new order ended abruptly,</b> as Ben fell prey to the dark-side adept Snoke and his own demons. <b>He destroyed Luke's academy</b> and became Kylo Ren, Snoke's apprentice and champion of the First Order. [...] Kylo hungered to prove himself a master of the dark side, but still felt the pull of the light.” <em>[since ~<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190504190439/https://www.starwars.com/databank/the-force">2019-05-04</a>]</em></p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Databank-TFA" name="Databank-TFA"></a>
</p><h4>
<a href="https://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-episode-7-the-force-awakens-story-gallery">The Force Awakens: story gallery</a>:</h4><p class="indent">Image 28 of 59: “Han tells the story of Luke's disappearance: he had been training a new generation of Jedi until <b>one student turned to the dark side and destroyed it all</b>. Feeling responsible, Luke went into exile.”</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Databank-TLJ" name="Databank-TLJ"></a>
</p><h4>
<a href="https://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-the-last-jedi-story-gallery">The Last Jedi: story gallery</a>:</h4><p class="indent">Image 5 of 56: “Now on Ahch-To, Rey has finally found Luke Skywalker, the legendary Jedi who vanished following <b>a student's fall to the dark side and subsequent decimation of a nacent <em>[sic]</em> Jedi Order</b>.” <em>[all since ~<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190909200637/https://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-the-last-jedi-story-gallery">2019-9-09</a>]</em></p>
<p class="indent">Image 17 of 56: “Rey tells Kylo that he has lost, as she has found Skywalker. The dark warrior asks if Luke has explained why <b>he destroyed his temple</b>. Rey claims she knows enough, and calls him a monster.”</p><p class="indent">Image 19 of 56: “After practicing with her lightsaber, Rey joins Luke for another lesson. He recounts the story of <b>Ben Solo's betrayal: sensing that darkness was rising in his nephew, Luke went to confront him. Ben turned on his uncle</b>, and when Luke came to, <b>the Jedi temple was in flames</b>.”</p><p class="indent">Image 25 of 56: “Kylo and Rey meet again through their mysterious connection. Ren tells <b>his side of the story about what happened at Luke's Jedi temple</b>: his uncle feared Ren's power and came to kill him while he slept. Rey calls him a liar and Kylo simply says, "Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. That's the only way to become what you were meant to be."”</p><p class="indent">Image 28 of 56: “Rey confronts Luke, demanding to know if it's true that he tried to murder Ben Solo. They fight, until finally the Jedi acquieces <em>[sic]</em>. Luke says that he had sensed a great darkness in his nephew, one grown by Snoke, and believed he could stop it by killing him. <b>It was an impulse that lasted only a moment but it was enough to destroy everything</b>.”</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[The entry for the Force uses "academy" which is otherwise avoided post-Legends whenever the Story Group writes it. TFA's story gallery simply repeated Han's words in that film. TLJ's also reflected the film, and has spelling errors that have not been corrected as of 2020-12-28.]</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
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</p><hr/>
<hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Footnotes1" name="Footnotes1"></a>
</p><h3>
  <b>Footnotes</b>
</h3><p class="align-justify">
  <a id="foot1" name="foot1"></a>
  <sup>
    <a href="#return1">1</a>
  </sup>
  <span class="small">Han referred to Ben as a "boy" when he referred the event in <em>The Force Awakens</em>. In <em>The Last Jedi,</em> Luke described confronting Ben at the temple as a "frightened boy." Fry's novelization referred to Ben in each of the flashbacks as "no longer a boy but not yet a man." <em>Bloodline</em>, however, established enough details to calculate Ben's age at around 23 rather than a teenager, and later timelines also locked his age down at 23 when he destroyed the temple. Filmmakers and actors have referred to Kylo as "adolescent" during the films even though the character is 29-30 years old during them, and he was played by Adam Driver while in his early 30s.</span>
</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <a id="foot2" name="foot2"></a>
  <sup>
    <a href="#return2">2</a>
  </sup>
  <span class="small">From <em>The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition</em> by Rae Carson:</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">Where there had been calm, now there was only terror. It filled her mind, overflowed into pure, hot power. [...] Rey tried to remember her training. <em>Let the Force guide your actions,</em> Leia would say. But thinking of Leia, her training, even for the briefest moment made her lose concentration, and the ship listed again in Kylo's direction.</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">So Rey bore down with all the strength of her being. Blood screamed in her ears, and her heart was a massive drum in her chest. She drew on her rage at Kylo, at the First Order, even at Unkar Plutt. She drew on her terror for Chewie's life, remembered what it felt like to watch Han Solo drop into the abyss at Starkiller base. She drew on pain too: the aching hollowness of an empty stomach, the bruised knuckles with no bacta to soothe them, the feel of grit in her molars after a windy day, the dagger-sharp silence of loneliness. Rey opened her mouth in a silent scream.</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">Raw power burst from her fingertips, arced toward the freighter. It was blue lightning, pure Force energy, brighter than a lightsaber, hotter than a sun. It wrapped its deadly, crooked fingers around the transport, which jerked sideways for the briefest instant and then exploded into a sickening fireball.</span>
</p><p class="indent">[...]</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">
    <em>What have I done?</em>
  </span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">Fear led to the dark side after all. She'd been fine so long as her fear was tempered by peace and resolve. But the moment she gave in to rage and terror...Chewbacca was gone. [...]</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">"It wasn't your fault."</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">“It was,” Rey said, unable to look at him. “I lost control."</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">"No, it was <em>Ren</em>. He made you do it."</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">Rey shook her head. “You saw what happened. That power came from me. Finn, there are things you don't know.”</span>
</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <a id="foot3" name="foot3"></a>
  <sup>
    <a href="#return3">3</a>
  </sup>
  <span class="small">From <em>Dooku: Jedi Lost</em> by Cavan Scott:</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">
    <em>The lightning builds into a storm, everything else swirling around it, and beneath it all, the emperor's manic laughter. [...] And beneath the crescendo, Dooku screams in pain and fury. [...] Dooku's scream dies in his throat like a man waking from a nightmare. He breathes hard as he finds himself back in the cavern. All is quiet. The chanting has stopped. Only a few of the torches are still burning, the others having gone out. Force lightning crackles over the rocks.</em>
  </span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">LENE: (COMING AROUND) Dooku? How did we get down?<br/>
DOOKU: (SHAKEN) I don't know.<br/>
LENE: (DISGUSTED) What's that smell?<br/>
DOOKU: (NOT SHOCKED) The Presagers.<br/>
LENE: They're... They've been burned to a crisp. But how...?<br/>
DOOKU: (SCARED) Master... I... <br/>
LENE: Dooku. Your hands.<br/>
DOOKU: (NARRATION) I looked down at the indigo light crackling around my fingers...<br/>
DOOKU: In my vision. I saw... lightning, coursing through bodies... <br/>
LENE: Dooku, you're going to be all right...<br/>
DOOKU: It's a mark of the dark side.<br/>
LENE: Not always.<br/>
<em>The lightning surges as his anger flares.</em></span>
</p><p class="indent">[...]</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">DOOKU: But the lightning...<br/>
LENE: Your mind locked on to something.<br/>
DOOKU: My future?<br/>
LENE: No. Definitely not.<br/>
DOOKU: But the dark side...<br/>
LENE: Runs through this place like a seam. Dooku, it used you. Not the other way around. It latched on to your concern, for us, twisting it, weaponizing it. This wasn't you, Dooku. The Presagers brought it upon themselves.<br/>
<em>More lightning crackles.</em><br/>
DOOKU: I saw it, dancing from my fingertips...</span>
</p><p class="indent">[...]</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">DOOKU: You don't want me to force you to talk.<br/>
<em>Force lightning crackles over his hands.</em><br/>
TRANDOSHAN: What is that!<br/>
DOOKU: Something I've been fighting for years. Something I can control. Most of the time.</span>
</p><p class="indent">[...]</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">
    <em>[Dooku's] scream echoing the beast he controlled, he unleashed the dark fire he had buried for so long [...]</em>
  </span>
</p><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>───</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <a id="foot4" name="foot4"></a>
  <sup>
    <a href="#return4">4</a>
  </sup>
  <span class="small">From <em>Master &amp; Apprentice</em> by Claudia Gray:</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small"><em>She's going to kill me.</em> Qui-Gon's hand tightened on his lightsaber—he'd just have to try to block her, even if it was futile—</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">A flash of light exploded from the jungle, striking Shenda Mol. She screamed in agony, dropping her blaster and tumbling down the hillside to fall to the ground. [...] Before Qui-Gon could ask what that light had been, the foliage rustled to reveal Master Dooku.</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">"You kill the helpless and brag of it," Dooku said, walking past Qui-Gon into the underbrush [...] "You think to murder my Padawan merely to fulfill your pitiful ambitions. You find yourself impressive, do you? You know nothing of true power!"</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">Brilliant light flashed again, and again. Qui-Gon still couldn't see it directly, though he could feel his skin prickling and his hair standing on end. The air tasted of ozone. [...]</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">"Master, stop." He pushed his way through the underbrush to stand between Dooku and Mol. The assassin lay at his Master's feet, curled in on herself, trembling. "Please. I'm all right. We're taking her into custody. It's over."</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">Dooku's expression was unreadable at first, but slowly he lowered his hand. "It's over," his Master repeated. Suddenly he seemed almost normal again. "You're all right, my Padawan?"</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">"Yes, Master." Every other time Dooku had saved his life, Qui-Gon had thanked him. He couldn't now.</span>
</p><p class="indent">
  <span class="small">What had his Master done?</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="ClosingThoughts" name="ClosingThoughts"></a>
</p><h3>
  <b>Closing Thoughts</b>
</h3><p class="align-justify">Post-<em>The Force Awakens</em> publications presented Kylo's backstory as battling and intentionally killing his fellow students at the temple, implying or stating he killed <em>all</em> of them, thus earning him the nickname "Jedi Killer." <em>The Last Jedi</em> instead said that he slaughtered <em>most</em> of the other students while others left to join him on the dark side, and the start of his temptation to the dark side was unclear; he may have already turned to the dark side or intended to before Luke looked into his mind. <em>The Rise of Kylo Ren</em> reframed this yet again by making the destruction something Ben didn't set out to do, the surviving students didn't join him but instead tried to bring him to justice, and he was tempted by the dark side at least as far back as his childhood encounter with the Knights of Ren.</p><p class="align-justify">It isn't clear out-of-universe <em>why</em> the details of this specific event kept changing and clashing with what came before. Giving the film-makers freedom to tell the story is a common theory for many of this era's changes and contradictions along the way, like the specifics of Poe and Rey's backstories. Despite the existence of the story group, some references went to print without the thorough vetting others had and produced inconsistencies with each other. Ideas were put forth to explain the story thus far while it changed along the way. We don't know what the internal reference materials look like for the temple destruction, what was established internally as immovable, and what was flexible for later storytellers. We don't know how much was deliberately changed versus inadvertently conflicting.</p><p class="align-justify">The fandom battled itself over the temple destruction for years. Regardless of the dozens of canon sources, fans came up with theories that Ben never destroyed the temple and never killed any other Jedi students, and <em>The Rise of Kylo Ren</em> was ambiguous enough to seemingly validate their theories. Other fans were unhappy thinking TROKR had retconned the films to change who destroyed the temple, and put that important detail in a comic rather than on-screen where they felt that belonged. Alternative readings are always possible but are not canon.</p><p class="align-justify">"Ben Solo didn't destroy the temple and this comic confirms it" <a href="#TROKR-notes">isn't what the story actually portrays.</a> Nobody tells Ben he's the one who destroyed it. Nobody else takes credit for doing it. Ben plainly states he destroyed it. The art links Ben to it. In subsequent events, he displays the same behavior patterns (impulsive violence, instant regret, dismiss as the past). Read in consideration of other sources, those years of development weren't thrown out; film-only audiences aren't shut out from knowing who destroyed the temple, but they won't know <em>how</em> he did it. Even with the changes in specifics, the constant has always been that Han and Leia's son, Ben Solo, was Luke's former apprentice until he destroyed the Jedi temple, killed his fellow students, and joined the dark side and the First Order as Kylo Ren.</p><p>
  <br/>
</p><hr/>
<hr/>
<p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Overview" name="Overview"></a>
</p><h3>
  <b>Text overview</b>
</h3><p>A quick reference of which sources say what. To help break down the types, IU = In-universe, OOU = Out-of-universe, and DB = Databank.</p><h4>
  <b>Subject: Who did it?</b>
</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<b>"Ben Solo"/"Kylo Ren"/"I":</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#RoyalRebel">Princess Leia: Royal Rebel</a>, <a href="#TLJ">The Last Jedi</a>, <a href="#Secrets">Secrets of the Jedi</a>, <a href="#TROKR">The Rise of Kylo Ren</a></em>;<br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#TFA-VD">The Force Awakens: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#CharEncyclo">Character Encyclopedia</a>, <a href="#GalacticAtlas">Galactic Atlas</a>, <a href="#HelmetCollection">Helmet Collection</a></em> (18, 21, 72), <em><a href="#VisualEncyclo">Visual Encyclopedia</a>, <a href="#SuperGraphic">Super Graphic</a>, <a href="#AEYNTK">Absolutely Everything You Need to Know</a>, <a href="#TLJ-VD">The Last Jedi: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#TLJ-TOCE">The Last Jedi: The Official Collector's Edition</a>, <a href="#CompleteVD">Complete Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#CardTrader">Card Trader</a></em> (ID 99152), <a href="#UltimateSW">Ultimate Star Wars</a>, <a href="#TROS-VD">The Rise of Skywalker: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#SWBook">The Star Wars Book</a>, <a href="#FascinatingFacts">Fascinating Facts</a>, <a href="#LightsaberCollection">The Lightsaber Collection</a>;<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Kylo">Kylo</a> history, <a href="#Databank-Luke">Luke</a> since 2018 and gallery 34-35, <a href="#Databank-Leia">Leia</a> gallery 15, <a href="#Databank-Snoke">Snoke</a> history, <a href="#Databank-TheForce">The Force</a>, <em><a href="#Databank-TLJ">The Last Jedi</a></em> story gallery 17 and 19</li>
<li>
<b>one "apprentice"/"student" (identity understood through context, not an explicit statement):</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TFA">The Force Awakens</a></em>;<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Luke">Luke</a> 2015-2017, <a href="Databank-Han">Han</a> gallery 42, <em><a href="#Databank-TFA">The Force Awakens</a></em> story gallery 28, <em><a href="#Databank-TLJ">The Last Jedi</a></em> story gallery 5</li>
<li>
<b>Ben Solo/Kylo Ren's accomplices:</b><br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#AEYNTK">Absolutely Everything You Need to Know</a></em> <span class="small">(Knights of Ren)</span>, <em><a href="#TLJ-VD">The Last Jedi: Visual Dictionary</a></em> <span class="small">("led its destruction")</span>
</li>
<li>
<b>other possibilities specified:</b><br/>
none</li>
</ul><h4>
  <b>Action: What happened? What specific vocabulary was used?</b>
</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<b>"destroy(s/ed)/destruction":</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TFA">The Force Awakens</a>, <a href="#TLJ">The Last Jedi</a>, <a href="#TROKR">The Rise of Kylo Ren</a></em> (Ben);<br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#TFA-VD">The Force Awakens: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#GalacticAtlas">Galactic Atlas</a>, <a href="#HelmetCollection">Helmet Collection</a></em> (18, 21, 72), <em><a href="#AEYNTK">Absolutely Everything You Need to Know</a>, <a href="#TLJ-VD">The Last Jedi: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#TLJ-TOCE">The Last Jedi: The Official Collector's Edition</a>, <a href="#CompleteVD">Complete Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#UltimateSW">Ultimate Star Wars</a>, <a href="#TROS-VD">The Rise of Skywalker: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#SWBook">The Star Wars Book</a>, <a href="#FascinatingFacts">Fascinating Facts</a>, <a href="#CardTrader">Card Trader</a></em> (ID 99152 and ID 119961);<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Kylo">Kylo</a> gallery 1, <a href="#Databank-Luke">Luke</a> gallery 35, <a href="#Databank-Leia">Leia</a> gallery 15, <a href="#Databank-Han">Han</a> gallery 42, <a href="#Databank-Snoke">Snoke</a> history and gallery 2, <a href="#Databank-TheForce">The Force</a>, <em><a href="#Databank-TFA">The Force Awakens</a></em> story gallery 28, <em><a href="#Databank-TLJ">The Last Jedi</a></em> story gallery 17</li>
<li>
<b>"betray(al/ed)":</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TLJ">The Last Jedi</a></em> (novel), <em><a href="#TROKR">The Rise of Kylo Ren</a></em> (Voe), <em><a href="#TROS-novel">The Rise of Skywalker</a></em> (novel);<br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#TFA-VD">The Force Awakens: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#GalacticAtlas">Galactic Atlas</a>, <a href="#HelmetCollection">Helmet Collection</a></em> (21), <em><a href="#TLJ-VD">The Last Jedi: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#TLJ-TOCE">The Last Jedi: The Official Collector's Edition</a>, <a href="#CompleteVD">Complete Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#UltimateSW">Ultimate Star Wars</a>, <a href="#TROS-VD">The Rise of Skywalker: Visual Dictionary</a></em>;<br/>
DB: <em><a href="#Databank-TLJ">The Last Jedi</a></em> story gallery 19</li>
<li>
<b>"burn(s/ed/ing)", "in flames", "ablaze" (temple):</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TFA">The Force Awakens</a></em> (screenplay and novels), <em><a href="#RoyalRebel">Princess Leia: Royal Rebel</a>, <a href="#TLJ">The Last Jedi</a>, <a href="#Secrets">Secrets of the Jedi</a>, <a href="#TROKR">The Rise of Kylo Ren</a></em>;<br/>
OOU: <a href="#TLJ-VD">The Last Jedi: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#TROS-VD">The Rise of Skywalker: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#FascinatingFacts">Fascinating Facts</a>;<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Luke">Luke</a> implied through gallery 34 of his hand on R2-D2, <em><a href="#Databank-TLJ">The Last Jedi</a></em> story gallery 19</li>
<li>
<b>"tragedy":</b><br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#TFA-VD">The Force Awakens: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#CharEncyclo">Character Encyclopedia</a>, <a href="#GalacticAtlas">Galactic Atlas</a>, <a href="#TLJ-TOCE">The Last Jedi: The Official Collector's Edition</a></em>;<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Luke">Luke</a> history and gallery 34-35, <a href="#Databank-Leia">Leia</a> gallery 15, <a href="#Databank-R2D2">R2-D2</a>
</li>
<li>
<b>"turn(s/ed) (against/on Luke)":</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TFA">The Force Awakens</a></em>;<br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#TLJ-Art">The Art of The Last Jedi</a></em>;<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Luke">Luke</a> gallery 34, <a href="#Databank-Han">Han</a> gallery 42, <em><a href="#Databank-TLJ">The Last Jedi</a></em> story gallery 19</li>
<li>
<b>"kill(s/ed)":</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#RoyalRebel">Princess Leia: Royal Rebel</a></em>;<br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#SuperGraphic">Super Graphic</a>, <a href="#TLJ-TOCE">The Last Jedi: The Official Collector's Edition</a></em>;<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Kylo">Kylo</a> history and gallery 1</li>
<li>
<b>"slaughter(ed)":</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TLJ">The Last Jedi</a>, <a href="#Secrets">Secrets of the Jedi</a></em>
</li>
<li>
<b>"wip(es/ing) out":</b><br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#VisualEncyclo">Visual Encyclopedia</a>, <a href="#UltimateSW">Ultimate Star Wars</a></em>
</li>
<li>
<b>"lashes out":</b><br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#UltimateSW">Ultimate Star Wars</a>, <a href="#LightsaberCollection">The Lightsaber Collection</a></em>
</li>
<li>
<b>"deaths":</b><br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#SWBook">The Star Wars Book</a></em>
</li>
<li>
<b>"terrible setback":</b><br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#CharEncyclo">Character Encyclopedia</a></em>
</li>
<li>
<b>"decimation":</b><br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-TLJ">The Last Jedi</a> story gallery 19</li>
<li>
<b>"annihilating":</b><br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#UltimateSW">Ultimate Star Wars</a></em>
</li>
<li>
<b>"murderer":</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TROKR">The Rise of Kylo Ren</a></em>
</li>
<li>
<b>"massacre":</b><br/>
none</li>
</ul><h4>
  <b>Object: To what person, place, or thing was it done?</b>
</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<b>the Jedi ("new generation," "Order," "apprentices," and/or "students"):</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TFA">The Force Awakens</a>, <a href="#RoyalRebel">Princess Leia: Royal Rebel</a>, <a href="#TLJ">The Last Jedi</a>, <a href="#Secrets">Secrets of the Jedi</a>, <a href="#TROKR">The Rise of Kylo Ren</a></em>;<br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#TFA-VD">The Force Awakens: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#CharEncyclo">Character Encyclopedia</a>, <a href="#GalacticAtlas">Galactic Atlas</a>, <a href="#HelmetCollection">Helmet Collection</a></em> (18, 21, 72), <em><a href="#VisualEncyclo">Visual Encyclopedia</a>, <a href="#SuperGraphic">Super Graphic</a>, <a href="#AEYNTK">Absolutely Everything You Need to Know</a>, <a href="#TLJ-VD">The Last Jedi: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#TLJ-TOCE">The Last Jedi: The Official Collector's Edition</a>, <a href="#CompleteVD">Complete Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#UltimateSW">Ultimate Star Wars</a>, <a href="#SWBook">The Star Wars Book</a>, <a href="#FascinatingFacts">Fascinating Facts</a></em>;<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Kylo">Kylo</a> history and gallery 1, <a href="#Databank-Luke">Luke</a> gallery 34 of 45, <a href="#Databank-Han">Han</a> gallery 42 of 49, <a href="#Databank-Snoke">Snoke</a> since 2017, <em><a href="#Databank-TFA">The Force Awakens</a></em> story gallery 28, <em><a href="#Databank-TLJ">The Last Jedi</a></em> story gallery 5</li>
<li>
<b>the temple:</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TFA">The Force Awakens</a> </em><span class="small">("burning temple" in script &amp; novelization, "a temple in flames" in junior)</span>, <em><a href="#RoyalRebel">Princess Leia: Royal Rebel</a> </em><span class="small">("his uncle's Jedi Temple")</span>, <em><a href="#TLJ">The Last Jedi</a> </em><span class="small">("training temple", "[the/his] temple")</span>, <em><a href="#Secrets">Secrets of the Jedi</a> </em><span class="small">("our temple")</span>, <em><a href="#TROKR">The Rise of Kylo Ren</a> </em><span class="small">(caption: "The Jedi Temple of Luke Skywalker", dialogue: "[the/his] temple" and "that temple he built", crawls: "the Jedi temple")</span>;<br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#HelmetCollection">Helmet Collection</a></em> <span class="small">("Luke's fledgling Jedi Academy" in 72)</span>, <em><a href="#AEYNTK">Absolutely Everything You Need to Know</a> </em><span class="small">("Luke's Jedi academy")</span>, <em><a href="#TLJ-VD">The Last Jedi: Visual Dictionary</a> </em><span class="small">("his Jedi training temple")</span>, <em><a href="#TLJ-TOCE">The Last Jedi: The Official Collector's Edition</a></em> <span class="small">("Jedi training temple", "a training temple", "the temple"</span>, <em><a href="#CardTrader">Card Trader</a> </em><span class="small">(ID 99152: "The Fall of Luke's Jedi Academy", "his uncle Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker's training academy" and "Skywalker's newly established Jedi Academy"; ID 119961: "his Jedi Temple")</span>, <em><a href="#UltimateSW">Ultimate Star Wars</a> </em><span class="small">("Luke's new temple")</span>, <em><a href="#TROS-VD">The Rise of Skywalker: Visual Dictionary</a> </em><span class="small">("Luke's Jedi training temple", "Luke's Jedi temple", "the temple")</span>, <em><a href="#SWBook">The Star Wars Book</a> </em><span class="small">("Luke's Jedi temple", "a small Jedi temple", "his [Jedi] temple")</span>, <em><a href="#FascinatingFacts">Fascinating Facts</a> </em><span class="small">("his Jedi temple")</span>, <em><a href="#LightsaberCollection">The Lightsaber Collection</a> </em><span class="small">("Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy")</span>;<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Kylo">Kylo</a> gallery 1 since 2018 <span class="small">("his temple")</span>, <a href="#Databank-Snoke">Snoke</a> since 2017 <span class="small">("Luke's temple")</span>, <a href="#Databank-TheForce">The Force</a> <span class="small">("Luke's academy")</span>, <em><a href="#Databank-TLJ">The Last Jedi</a></em> story gallery 17 and 19 <span class="small">("his temple", "the Jedi temple", "Luke's Jedi temple")</span>
</li>
<li>
<b>Luke's "plans"/"efforts", "it all", "all" Luke had tried to build:</b><br/> 
IU: <em><a href="#TFA">The Force Awakens</a></em>;<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Luke">Luke</a> first paragraph since 2018, history since 2015, gallery 34-35; <a href="#Databank-Leia">Leia</a> gallery 15; <a href="#Databank-R2D2">R2-D2</a>; <em><a href="#Databank-TFA">The Force Awakens</a></em> story gallery 28</li>
</ul><h4>
  <b>Other details</b>
</h4>
<ul>
<li>
<b>"Jedi Killer":</b><br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#TFA-VD">The Force Awakens: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#TLJ-Art">The Art of The Last Jedi</a>, <a href="#CompleteVD">Complete Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#UltimateSW">Ultimate Star Wars</a>, <a href="#FascinatingFacts">Fascinating Facts</a></em>
</li>
<li>
<b>students killed via lightsaber during the temple destruction:</b><br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#TFA-VD">The Force Awakens: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#UltimateSW">Ultimate Star Wars</a></em>
</li>
<li>
<b>students and temple destroyed with lightning-sparked fire:</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TROKR">The Rise of Kylo Ren</a></em> #1</li>
<li>
<b>unspecified # of deaths, no mentioned survivors:</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TFA">The Force Awakens</a></em>;<br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#TFA-VD">The Force Awakens: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#GalacticAtlas">Galactic Atlas</a>, <a href="#VisualEncyclo">Visual Encyclopedia</a>, <a href="#SuperGraphic">Super Graphic</a>, <a href="#AEYNTK">Absolutely Everything You Need to Know</a>, <a href="#TLJ-VD">The Last Jedi: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#CompleteVD">Complete Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#TROS-VD">The Rise of Skywalker: Visual Dictionary</a>, <a href="#SWBook">The Star Wars Book</a></em> ("the deaths of his other students"),<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Kylo">Kylo</a> 2015-2018, <a href="#Databank-Luke">Luke</a>, <a href="#Databank-Leia">Leia</a>, <a href="#Databank-Han">Han</a>, <a href="#Databank-TheForce">The Force</a>, <em><a href="#Databank-TFA">The Force Awakens</a></em> story gallery, <em><a href="#Databank-TLJ">The Last Jedi</a></em> story gallery</li>
<li>
<b>specifies some/most students died:</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TLJ">The Last Jedi</a>, <a href="#Secrets">Secrets of the Jedi</a>, <a href="#TROKR">The Rise of Kylo Ren</a></em>;<br/>
OOU: <em><a href="#TLJ-TOCE">The Last Jedi: The Official Collector's Edition</a>, <a href="#UltimateSW">Ultimate Star Wars</a></em>;<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Kylo">Kylo</a> since 2018, <a href="#Databank-Snoke">Snoke</a>
</li>
<li>
<b>specifies some followed/left with Ben/Kylo to join him:</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TLJ">The Last Jedi</a>, <a href="#Secrets">Secrets of the Jedi</a></em>;<br/>
DB: <a href="#Databank-Kylo">Kylo</a> since 2018, <a href="#Databank-Snoke">Snoke</a>
</li>
<li>
<b>specifies "all" students died:</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#RoyalRebel">Princess Leia: Royal Rebel</a></em> ("all the apprentices")</li>
<li>
<b>some students pursued without joining the dark side:</b><br/>
IU: <em><a href="#TROKR">The Rise of Kylo Ren</a></em>
</li>
</ul>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Non-Canon/Unofficial Sources</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h3>
  <b>Contents: Non-Canon/Unofficial Sources</b>
</h3>
<ol>
<b>Comic book publicity:</b><br/>
    <li>
<a href="#SW-TheCreators">"The Creators [...] on Ben Solo's Turn"</a> on StarWars.com</li>
    <li>
<a href="#SW-BenSolosHate">"Ben Solo's Hate Grows in <em>The Rise of Kylo Ren</em> #1"</a> on StarWars.com</li>
    <li>
<a href="#TROKR-summaries"><em>The Rise of Kylo Ren</em></a> (publisher's summaries)</li>
<b>Articles and issues:</b><br/>
    <li>
<a href="#EW-JJAonKR">"J.J. Abrams on Kylo Ren's shocking act [...]"</a> in <em>Entertainment Weekly</em>
</li>
    <li>
<a href="#EW-TLJ">"<em>The Last Jedi:</em> Can Rey save Luke Skywalker from his own darkness?"</a> in <em>Entertainment Weekly</em>
</li>
    <li>
<a href="#SWI-Footprints">"Footprints on the Crait Salt Flats"</a> in <em>Star Wars Insider</em> #179</li>
    <li>
<a href="#Yahoo-TLJnovel">"Even the author of the 'Last Jedi' novel [...]"</a> for <em>Yahoo! Entertainment</em>
</li>
    <li>
<a href="#SWI-ACertainPOV">"A Certain Point of View: Trust, Truth, and Little White Lies"</a> in <em>Star Wars Insider</em> #193</li>
    <li>
<a href="#RollingStone-DarkStarRising">"Dark Star Rising"</a> for <em>Rolling Stone</em>
</li>
<b>Social media:</b><br/>
    <li><a href="#Tweets-PabloHidalgo">Tweets from Pablo Hidalgo</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Tweets-JasonFry">Tweets from Jason Fry</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Tweets-CharlesSoule">Tweets from Charles Soule</a></li>
    <li><a href="#Tweets-MattMartin">Tweets from Matt Martin</a></li>
    </ol>
<p>
<a href="#Footnotes2">Footnotes</a>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><hr/><p>
  <br/>
</p>
<h3>
  <b>COMIC BOOK PUBLICITY</b>
</h3>
<p>
  <a id="SW-TheCreators" name="SW-TheCreators"></a>
</p>
<h4>“<a href="https://www.starwars.com/news/marvel-star-wars-the-rise-of-kylo-ren-interview">The Creators of Marvel's Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren on Ben Solo's Turn</a>” (Dec 9, 2019; Interview with Charles Soule and Will Sliney)</h4>
<p class="indent">“The story also introduces a trio of Ben's classmates, <b>survivors of the Jedi temple destruction by virtue of being off-world on a mission at the time of its collapse</b>. In the first issue, surveying the aftermath and Ben Solo standing among the wreckage, one of these students asks, "Should we call his mother?"”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[StarWars.com is the official website and hosts the canon Databank, but the rest of the site's articles and interviews aren't necessarily canon. This interview lampshaded how Tai, Voe, and Hennix would have died at the temple, too, if they had been there.]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <br/>
  <a id="SW-BenSolosHate" name="SW-BenSolosHate"></a>
</p>
<h4>“<a href="https://www.starwars.com/news/the-rise-of-kylo-ren-1-exclusive">Ben Solo's Hate Grows in <em>The Rise of Kylo Ren</em> #1 – Exclusive</a>” (Dec 11, 2019)</h4>
<p class="indent">“Han Solo's words in <em>Star Wars: The Force Awakens</em> tell of <b>the tragic fall of not just a "boy," but his son</b>, and how <b>his actions</b> led to Luke Skywalker's self-imposed exile. Finally, we'll see exactly what happened.</p>
<p class="indent"><em>Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren #1</em>, by writer Charles Soule and artist Will Sliney, arrives Wednesday, December 18, and will tell the full story of <b>how Ben Solo became an agent of evil</b>. StarWars.com is thrilled to offer an exclusive first look, which shows just <b>what occurred following the troubled student's clash with Luke</b>, as seen in <em>Star Wars: The Last Jedi</em>.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[In the lead-up to TROKR's premiere, StarWars.com posted preview pages with this introduction.]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <br/>
  <a id="TROKR-summaries" name="TROKR-summaries"></a>
</p>
<h4>
<br/><em>The Rise of Kylo Ren</em> 
</h4><h5>Issue #1 (Dec 18, 2019)</h5>
<p class="indent"><em>Publisher's summary:</em><br/>
              “<b>WITH BEN SOLO'S FALL… COMES KYLO REN'S RISE!</b> Young Ben Solo is legendary Jedi Luke Skywalker's most promising pupil. As the son of Rebel Alliance heroes Leia Organa and Han Solo, as well as Luke's own nephew, Ben has the potential to be a great force for light in the galaxy. But the Skywalker legacy casts a long shadow, the currents of the dark side run deep, and Darth Vader's blood runs in Ben's veins. Voices call from both his past and his future, telling him who he must be. He will shatter, he will be reforged, his destiny will be revealed. <b>Snoke awaits. The Knights of Ren await. Ben Solo's path to his true self</b> begins here.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><h5>Issue #2 (Jan 8, 2020)</h5>
<p class="indent"><em>Publisher's summary:</em><br/>
              “SNOKE SINKS HIS CLAWS IN! YOUNG BEN SOLO FACES THE KNIGHTS OF REN! With the <b>new jedi <em>[sic]</em> school in ruins and fellow students hot on his trail for the murder of their master</b>, Ben Solo flees to the only friend he has left in the galaxy - a man named Snoke. But Snoke has plans for Ben - and ideas about the Force that are as dangerous as they are intriguing for the troubled young Jedi. If Ben wishes to be truly free - the answers might lie with the dark side. And with the Knights of Ren! But it won't be the first time he's tangled with the Knights. In the past, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker journeys to the Unknown Regions and brings young Ben along for the mission. Can even Luke Skywalker stand against the fabled Knights of Ren?!”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[The publisher's summaries advertising these comics avoided active voice statements about the cause of the temple fire or specifying why the school was in ruins.]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><hr/><p>
  <br/>
</p>
<h3>
  <b>ARTICLES AND ISSUES</b>
</h3>
<p>
  <a id="EW-JJAonKR" name="EW-JJAonKR"></a>
</p>
<h4>
<br/>“<a href="https://ew.com/article/2015/12/21/jj-abrams-kylo-ren-shocking-act-star-wars-force-awakens/">J.J. Abrams on Kylo Ren's shocking act in Star Wars: The Force Awakens</a>” by Anthony Breznican for <em>Entertainment Weekly</em> (Dec 21, 2015)</h4>
<p class="indent">“Michael Arndt, who helped craft the story before Abrams and Kasdan penned the script, said Kylo Ren began merely as a way to separate the heroes we remember from the original trilogy.</p>
<p class="indent">“"In my early drafts, my thinking was we had to bridge the end of Return of the Jedi to what happens in this movie, and we didn't want everybody to start off all together. We wanted them to be spread all throughout the galaxy," Arndt said.</p>
<p class="indent">The problem was, Return of the Jedi concluded with such a robust happily-ever-after that the writers of <em>The Force Awakens</em> had to find a way to undo that.</p>
<p class="indent">"We came up with a backstory that <b>Luke had a pupil who turned against him and fought him, and killed all the other pupils, and that was a thing that exploded the family and destroyed Han and Leia's relationship</b>," Arndt said.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Arndt said here that in Kylo's backstory to TFA, he <b>"killed all the other pupils"</b>. Compare Arndt's comments with <a href="#TLJ-Art">Chiang's</a> about the "Jedi Killer".]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <br/>
  <a id="EW-TLJ" name="EW-TLJ"></a>
</p>
<h4>“<a href="https://ew.com/movies/2017/08/09/star-wars-last-jedi-rey-luke-skywalker-daisy-ridley-mark-hamill/"><em>The Last Jedi:</em> Can Rey save Luke Skywalker from his own darkness?</a>" by Anthony Breznican in <em>Entertainment Weekly</em> (Aug 9, 2017)</h4>
<p class="indent">“<em>The Force Awakens</em> did tell us that Han and Leia's son, <b>Ben Solo, turned to the dark side and murdered his fellow students at Luke's new Jedi academy</b> – then went on to join the First Order under the name Kylo Ren. But it didn't explain why Luke felt it was better to isolate himself than continuing to fight his former apprentice.</p>
<p class="indent">[...]</p>
<p class="indent">"[Luke] made a huge mistake in thinking that his nephew was the chosen one, so he invested everything he had in Kylo, much like Obi-Wan did with my character," Hamill says. "And <b>he is betrayed, with tragic consequences</b>. Luke feels responsible for that. That's the primary obstacle he has to rejoining the world and his place in the Jedi hierarchy, you know? <b>It's that guilt, that feeling that it's his fault, that he didn't detect the darkness in him until it was too late</b>."”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Mark Hamill reflected on Luke's state of mind a few months prior to the release of TLJ, so his comments on Luke's self-blame were somewhat spoilery for why Luke remained on Ahch-To. As far as the EW writer assumed, Ben had turned before murdering the other students.]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <br/>
  <a id="SWI-Footprints" name="SWI-Footprints"></a>
</p>
<h4>“Footprints on the Crait Salt Flats: The Dark Path of Kylo Ren” by Tricia Barr in <em>Star Wars Insider</em> #179 (Mar 6, 2018)</h4>
<p class="indent">“Despite the initiating event of his journey and the arrival of his villainous mentor, Ben Solo resists the dark path for some time. He stays with Luke, and in remembrances from both Luke and Kylo Ren in <em>The Last Jedi</em> we learn that the darkness grew inside him as he continued to train at the Jedi academy.”</p>
<p class="indent">“[...] Ben wakes to see his uncle standing over him with a lightsaber lit, and <b>instinctively defends himself</b>. So, just as Rey's Hero's Journey starts in a fight for survival, fleeing Niima Outpost in the <em>Millennium Falcon</em>, Ben's path to becoming a villain in the galaxy far, far away is also influenced by a survival instinct taking over. His dark impulses stoked, <b>Ben blasts Luke with the Force and leaves him for dead. He then destroys the Jedi academy</b>, like his grandfather Darth Vader had pillaged the Jedi Temple on Coruscant as a fledgling Sith.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[As <a href="#TLJ-TOCE">noted before,</a> Insider isn't canon, but <a id="return5" name="return5"></a>Tricia Barr<sup><a href="#foot5">5</a></sup> is a longtime contributor to the magazine, a writer for the official blog, and co-author for multiple official reference books. This article analyzed Kylo's "villain's journey" (as opposed to a "hero's journey") in monomythic terms. She framed the temple destruction as an unplanned act during his turn to the dark side.]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Yahoo-TLJnovel" name="Yahoo-TLJnovel"></a>
</p>
<h4>“<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/even-author-last-jedi-novel-doesnt-think-hell-stop-rey-debate-191304057.html">Even the author of the 'Last Jedi' novel doesn't think he'll stop the Rey debate</a>” by Adam Lance Garcia for <em>Yahoo! Entertainment</em> (Mar 28, 2018)</h4>
<p class="indent">Adam Lance Garcia: “One of the most shocking moments in the adaptation is the revelation that <b>Ben Solo knew what Luke saw in his mind the night Kylo Ren was born, implying that he had already turned to the dark side</b>. Was this something that came from your discussions with Johnson?”</p>
<p class="indent">Jason Fry: “To clarify, <b>Luke sees that the night of their confrontation in the temple</b>, not the night of Ben's birth. <b>It's what causes him to ignite his saber, even if it's only in a moment of terrible fear that he immediately regrets</b>. There is a moment in the novelization where Leia recalls feeling darkness in Ben before his birth, only to have Luke assure her we all have light and darkness within us. It's a cool detail I can't claim credit for — Chuck Wendig introduced it in his <em>Aftermath</em> trilogy.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Fry also discussed his canon novelization <a href="Tweets-JasonFry">on Twitter</a>. Based on this, Fry wrote that Ben had already turned to the dark side when Luke looked into his mind, rather than turning afterward.]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <br/>
  <a id="SWI-ACertainPOV" name="SWI-ACertainPOV"></a>
</p>
<h4>“A Certain Point of View: Trust, Truth, and Little White Lies” by Jay Stobie in <em>Star Wars Insider</em> #193 (Oct 30, 2019)</h4>
<p class="indent">“Encouraged by Kylo Ren to investigate the events that occurred during <b>that fateful night at Luke's temple</b>, Rey listened as the Jedi Master recalled the potential he saw in his nephew; from his hopes to train Ben and pass on his strengths, to the plan to train the next generation of Jedi, and the darkness he later sensed within his star pupil. According to Skywalker, <b>Ben turned on him when he sought to confront the boy</b>, and subsequently <b>murdered many of his classmates, fleeing with those Ben had converted</b>. Rey believed Skywalker without hesitation, until Kylo claimed that he had awoken to find Luke preparing to strike him down with an ignited lightsaber as he slept.</p>
<p class="indent">“Of course, the truth revealed itself to exist somewhere between these two interpretations. Skywalker admitted that he had considered ending his nephew's life when he'd realized the extent to which Snoke had corrupted him, but that the thought had quickly passed. However, no matter how fleeting the moment may have been, Ben observed it, and in turn set the rest of <b>the night's unfortunate events</b> in motion.”</p>
<p class="indent">[...]</p>
<p class="indent">“For Ben Solo, <b>the incident proved mortifying enough to fully push him into Snoke's clutches</b>, yet still his glaring insecurities remained.”</p>
<p class="indent">[...]</p>
<p class="indent">“Ben's personality traits became ghosts that Kylo hoped to bury, as demonstrated by the false sense of confidence he projected when spinning <b>the tale of the Jedi temple</b> to Rey. In Kylo's eyes, Like sought to snuff out Ben's power while the boy remained weak. The apprentice countered by <b>defeating his revered master</b> and <b>razing the temple, thus taking a defiant first step toward becoming the mighty Kylo Ren</b>.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span><em>[As noted before, Insider is not canon; this </em>Insider<em> author made the common assumption based on TLJ that some of the students were turned to the dark side by Ben and left with him. A month later, the book </em><a href="#Secrets">Secrets of the Jedi</a><em> published that same assumption as canon.]</em></span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <br/>
  <a id="RollingStone-DarkStarRising" name="RollingStone-DarkStarRising"></a>
</p>
<h4>“<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-features/adam-driver-star-wars-dec-2019-cover-912404/">Dark Star Rising</a>” by Brian Hiatt for <em>Rolling Stone</em> (Dec 2, 2019; Adam Driver interview)</h4>
<p class="indent">“A common objection [to Reylo], which I pose to Driver, is that Kylo has done horrible things (murdered most of his Jedi-training classmates, killed his dad, almost blasted his mom, had stormtroopers murder innocent villagers, walked around shirtless in high-waisted pants). "I mean, of course I'm sympathetic to him and I understand," Driver says. "But I can see on the outside, if I analyzed it, which I don't, that <b>someone who's killed his class</b> doesn't really seem to be good boyfriend material."”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[The interviewer paraphrased his own words in this article; he may have specified all of those "horrible things" when posing the Reylo question to Driver, but he may have added that for the readers' benefit to expand upon what he asked. This makes it unclear why Driver singled out one event when he responded that Kylo was <b>"someone who's killed his class"</b>, but it's part of Kylo's background that Driver incorporated in his performance.]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><hr/><p>
  <br/>
</p>
<h3>
  <b>SOCIAL MEDIA</b>
</h3>
<p>
  <a id="Tweets-PabloHidalgo" name="Tweets-PabloHidalgo"></a>
</p>
<h4>
<br/>Tweets from Pablo Hidalgo, author and creative executive for Lucasfilm Story Group (pre-deletion/lockdown<a id="return6" name="return6"></a><sup><a href="#foot6">6</a></sup>; all text errors sic)</h4>
<p>
  <em>(Dec 22, 2015)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Skysawyer/status/679403658870661121">@Skysawyer</a>: “@pablohidalgo Do we know when the Academy attack happened in the timeline? 14-15 before TFA perhaps?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/679406636704776192">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@Skysawyer <b>Let's not call it a 'Jedi Academy.' But it wasn't that long ago</b>. Timeline will be told through stories, not tweets. :)”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@natallianovna: “@pablohidalgo wait just to clarify, do you mean that it was more recent than 14/15 years ago?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/679440221725851649">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@Skysawyer @natallianovna Yeah. It was more recent than that.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Jan 3, 2016)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/slashfilm/status/683721967011115008">@slashfilm</a>: “@pablohidalgo fan sites are claiming that you said that Rey was abandoned on Jakku before the events at the Jedi academy. Did you say that?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/683722283744010240">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “I just clarified character ages. Let people do their own math.
    </p><p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/slashfilm/status/683722525839212544">@slashfilm</a>: “@pablohidalgo yeah but you never said when the Jedi academy stuff went down, so how could they get to that conclusion?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/683722748972019712">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@slashfilm Because internet? :)”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/slashfilm/status/683726635460239364">@slashfilm</a>: “@pablohidalgo okay I'm now seeing the tweet that's leading everyone to believe this. You say that the temple attack happened more recent...”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/slashfilm/status/683726936531537920">@slashfilm</a>: “@pablohidalgo ..than 14 years before TFA, which means Rey would have to be 5 or younger for that to happen before her abandonment on Jakku.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/683727781922918400">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “Fair enough. <b>It happened less than 14 years ago</b>. What's the connection to Rey?”</p>
<p>
  <span class="small">
    <em>[The two tweets below were included as part of this conversation, but there isn't enough context to fit the pieces together of what he was responding to]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="indent"> <a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/683725076747796480">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “<b>Let's use "temple". That's the right term</b>.”</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/683726329896767488">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “I don't think there's yet enough information to conclude anything.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Mar 5, 2016)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/braindeadcooker/status/706256242579210240">@braindeadcooker</a>: “@pablohidalgo Hi Pablo, would it be a bit ridiculous of me to believe there's a possibility that Rey is Leia's daughter but not Han's ?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/706259192227590144">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@braindeadcooker that Leia had a child without Han? Yeah, that doesn't work at all.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/braindeadcooker/status/706261580749656065">@braindeadcooker</a>: “@pablohidalgo Ok thanks, I just thought there was a slim chance depending on when Han and Leia split.@rdquo;</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/706264984393650176">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@braindeadcooker When <b>their son became a murderer</b>. Given the age difference between Rey and Kylo, for what you proposed to be true...”</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/706265159098978304">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@braindeadcooker ... Kylo would have been 10? Kinda weird all around.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Mar 8, 2016)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ales5150/status/707234066865725441">@ales5150</a>: “@pablohidalgo since Kylo is 29/30 and the academy slaughter was 20 years before TFA. This means it wasn't Kylo who did it?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/707234601312210944">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@ales5150 who said <b>that happened 20 years ago? It didn't</b>.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ales5150/status/707234771697594372">@ales5150</a>: “@pablohidalgo oh I thought you did? I read it in an article, hold on sir let me find it”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/707235695530614784">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@ales5150 I wouldn't. I think people are jumping to conclusions.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ales5150/status/707235844814454785">@ales5150</a>: “@pablohidalgo your right. I found the sight and it seems as if it's been misrepresented and has been passed on as false info”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/707237315249250304">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@ales5150 I think people like drawing connections between Rey's abandonment and <b>the massacre at the temple</b> based on nothing at all. No info.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ales5150/status/707236143520210945">@ales5150</a>: “@pablohidalgo but Rey was left on Jakku before the jedi massacre? &amp; the force vision doesn't show the dead padawans,but a clan of some sort?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="small">
    <em>[note: unable to locate additional backups to confirm if Hidalgo replied to this; @ales5150 has further tweets that seem to be a continuation]</em>
  </span>
</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Mar 31, 2016)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@CottonCandyCas: “@pablohidalgo How many students were at Luke's Jedi "academy"? Was it even an "academy"?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/715777492120911873">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@CottonCandyCas We'd likely never use that term. That's very EU, not very George. It'd be <b>a temple. As for numbers, can't say now</b>.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><a id="Tweets-PabloHidalgo-2016-04-01" name="Tweets-PabloHidalgo-2016-04-01"></a><p>
  <em>(Apr 1, 2016; re: Rey's visions in TFA)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/715936442262884352">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “<b>The burning temple and the nighttime massacre appear to be two different events in two different places</b>.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Apr 1, 2016; re: <em>Secrets of The Force Awakens</em> documentary)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Darth_Hound/status/716007277409517569">@Darth_Hound</a>: “@pablohidalgo "The Telegraph" says that the TFA doc confirms that Han &amp; Leia split before Kylo turned. Canon? <a href="http://telegraph.co.uk/film/star-wars-the-force-awakens/making-of-documentary-secrets-cinematic-journey">http://telegraph.co.uk/film/star-wars-the-force-awakens/making-of-documentary-secrets-cinematic-journey/</a>”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Darth_Hound/status/716007546419544064">@Darth_Hound</a>: “@pablohidalgo I really hate that if true. It also doesn't seem to fit the way they act in the film.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716007524785324032">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@Darth_Hound I'd say that's a peculiar read of [it].”</p>
<p>
  <span class="small">
    <em>[note: Hidalgo's exact words in place of ["it"] unverified; need a second source]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716007709313798145">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “Watch the doc. See if you think it says that.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Darth_Hound/status/716008067800891392">@Darth_Hound</a>: “@pablohidalgo I doubt I will think that. I'm too biased on Han and Leia. Marital problems, yes. Split before the turn, never!”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Darth_Hound/status/716059899025887232">@Darth_Hound</a>: “@pablohidalgo Just saw the clip. They really read into it. It only says they weren't there enough and had their own agendas.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Darth_Hound/status/716060260910366720">@Darth_Hound</a>: “@pablohidalgo I assume he felt abandoned when they gave him to Luke to handle. Leia specifically says that's when she "lost them both." ”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Darth_Hound/status/716061237944123392">@Darth_Hound</a>: “@pablohidalgo Can't wait to get backstory on Ben and Snoke, esp. how Snoke could get that close to Ben. Hope Bloodline at least hints at it. ”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716060974722060288">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@Darth_Hound Yeah, it just reads as 'parents were too busy' kind of thing.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Darth_Hound/status/716061712500334596">@Darth_Hound</a>: “@pablohidalgo I'd hate to think of Han as leaving his family before feeling like a failure to prevent Ben's turn.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716062077031464960">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@Darth_Hound What the visual dictionary implies is your most window into what went down. But it's, by necessity, implication right now.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Darth_Hound/status/716064631152840704">@Darth_Hound</a>: “@pablohidalgo The "peace of his life" was "upended" by "profound tragedy." To paraphrase.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716066889735270400">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@Darth_Hound Heh. realize i left a word out. "most accurate window into what went down".”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Apr 2, 2016; re: Skywalker lightsaber)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@FelixAzrael: “@pablohidalgo Was Kylo being literal when he said the Skywalker lightsaber belonged to him or did he just feel entitled to it?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716409904223760384">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@FelixAzrael Well. I'll say Kylo does a pretty good job of embodying entitlement as a character trait.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/FrolickingFiz/status/716669366998319104">@FrolickingFiz</a>: “@pablohidalgo @FelixAzrael But why would Kylo feel entitled to Anakin's saber? He idolizes Vader, not weak, foolish Anakin.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716676649866043394">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@FrolickingFiz @FelixAzrael I get a sense that as the <b>"Jedi killer"</b> he feels he alone is heir to their legacy not some lowly scavenger.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/SarahiLRF/status/716681411655151616">@SarahiLRF</a>: “@pablohidalgo @FrolickingFiz @FelixAzrael Agreed. More than a lowly scavenger I'd like to think he saw something else in Rey”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716684576643371009">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@SarahiLRF @FrolickingFiz @FelixAzrael I think there's a lot of shifting ground here (literally!) as he starts to believe what she can do.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><a id="Tweets-PabloHidalgo-2016-04-02b" name="Tweets-PabloHidalgo-2016-04-02b"></a><p>
  <em>(Apr 2, 2016; re: Luke's arm)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@dustinhyer: “@pablohidalgo does it say any where that the arm in rey's force vision is luke's ?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">Pablo Hidalgo: “@dustinhyer What arm?”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@dustinhyer: “@pablohidalgo the mechanical arm that reaches out to R2D2”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">Pablo Hidalgo: “@dustinhyer That's <b>Luke as his Jedi temple is burning</b>. That was the intent of that shot. It's the same hand &amp; robes” <em>[screenshot from <a href="#TFA-script">scene in script</a>]</em></p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/MarissaTalchi/status/716424345799753730">@MarissaTalchi</a>: “@pablohidalgo @dustinhyer Okay so... Luke touching R2 = Luke's temple, KoR slaughtering clan = different temple? The two aren't related?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">Pablo Hidalgo: “@MarissaTalchi @dustinhyer they're two different places and times.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Apr 2, 2016; re: Kylo killing Jedi)</em>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="small">
    <em>[Thread started with <a href="https://twitter.com/EricCameronFilm/status/716084099803439110">@EricCameronFilm</a> tagging Hidalgo to ask about who started the Knights of Ren; unable to find a backup of Hidalgo's replies before those below. Reconstructing thread from @vende_bresof's still-available tweets, screenshots others took, and text archives. It appears both parties were initially confused about which source the other meant and might not have seen the other's additional tweets before responding; Twitter's poor threading system made conversations difficult.]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/vende_bresof/status/716398733697662976">@vende_bresof</a>: “@pablohidalgo Aha.So should we assume that there might be other edit slips?For ex. databank says Kylo "killed his fellow students" 1/2”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/vende_bresof/status/716397127455342592">@vende_bresof</a>: “@pablohidalgo But then,is that Visual Guide officially sanctioned or not?A trustful source or not?It's advertised on <a href="http://starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-force-awakens-the-official-visual-story-guide-available-now">http://starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-force-awakens-the-official-visual-story-guide-available-now</a><a>”</a></em>
</p><p>
  
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <a>
    <em></em>
  </a>
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/vende_bresof/status/716399135788806144">@vende_bresof</a>: “@pablohidalgo the whole databank on Kylo sounds too definitive - where are they getting this specific info - shouldn't it be more ambiguous?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">Pablo Hidalgo: “@vende_bresof Seems to be full of a lot of speculation.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/vende_bresof/status/716400233513631744">@vende_bresof</a>: “@pablohidalgo That's what I thought too! But the thing is, since is on the official website people treat it as valid definitive info...”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">Pablo Hidalgo: “@vende_bresof on page 8 it says he joined the Knights. On page 64 it says he founded it. :/”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/vende_bresof/status/716402100658429953">@vende_bresof</a>: “@pablohidalgo The whole databank on starwarscom on Kylo sounds off to me..Too much speculation I should say,maybe should be redacted/edited?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/vende_bresof/status/716402426287407105">@vende_bresof</a>: “@pablohidalgo i.e. RE Kylo I was talking about the starwars website databank,not the visual guide BTW…”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716403748109570048">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@vende_bresof <b>Actually, that's spot on</b>. It's the Knights of Ren stuff that's not being defined in any current works.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/vende_bresof/status/716404183126130688">@vende_bresof</a>: “@pablohidalgo Hm? "killed his fellow students" ??? Where do they learn that from?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716405027451965441">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@vende_bresof Combination of sources. Recall that <b>the Visual Dictionary identifies Kylo as the "Jedi killer"</b>.”</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716405493845995520">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@vende_bresof Luke was training a new generation of Jedi, <b>it all went wrong because of 1 boy, and he's the 'Jedi killer'</b> – that's the source.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/vende_bresof/status/716406107007270912">@vende_bresof</a>: “@pablohidalgo They call him that,true,but is it confirmed that he actually did kill "his fellow students"?Or is it assuming things”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/vende_bresof/status/716406312230395905">@vende_bresof</a>: “@pablohidalgo It sounded more ambiguous in the film at least...One thing is to be called Jedi killer, another if he actually did it, no?</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716406503352053761">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@vende_bresof <b>I'd say its inclusion in the Visual Dictionary makes it fact. It's part of his back-story</b>.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/vende_bresof/status/716406863135436801">@vende_bresof</a>: “@pablohidalgo Hm, Han said "destroyed it all",didn't say killed them all.Why do I think there is from a certain point of view kind of thing?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/vende_bresof/status/716412072268009477">@vende_bresof</a>: “@pablohidalgo But isn't there a difference to be CALLED "Jedi killer" &amp;be one for a fact?The VD wording was(I thought)deliberately ambiguous”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/716406838858616832">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “Is this message board drama stuff? I'm glad I don't hear it. :)”</p>
<p class="">
  <span class="small">
    <em>[I may have some of Hidalgo's replies inserted in the wrong places where I couldn't find timestamps. I'm also unable to consult the Visual Guide they discussed which Hidalgo said had errors; it isn't the same as the Visual Dictionaries which Hidalgo wrote.]</em>
  </span>
</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Apr 5, 2016)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/717518222916911104">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “'Poor Kylo was lonely.' / Rey is raised by sand. Doesn't <b>become murderer</b>.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Apr 21, 2016)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@AnneNeville_Ren: “@pablohidalgo I keep reading that the Jedi massacre happened at an "academy" while others say "don't call it an academy." Clarification?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">Pablo Hidalgo: “@AnneNeville_Ren people use <b>the term academy</b> because of the video game and books. It's an EU term. It's never used in the films, is all.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Apr 26, 2016)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>
    <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelcgriff/status/724963687639846916">@michaelcgriff: “@pablohidalgo how would you characterize Kylo Ren? Some say he's a murderous psychopath, hasn't he truly only killed 2 people”</a>
  </em>
</p><p>
  
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/michaelcgriff/status/724963687639846916"></a><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/724973261310693377">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@michaelcgriff interesting. How many would he have to murder to meet the quota? Do family members score double points? :)”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/jere7my/status/724995035125657600">@jere7my</a>: “@michaelcgriff @pablohidalgo He did order a whole village wiped out.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/724998920347222018">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@jere7my @michaelcgriff <b>He is known as the "Jedi killer"</b> so, do with that info what you will."”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(May 8, 2016; re: Bloodline story of fall)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/729374812900974592">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “And I can't say it enough. @claudiagray took a page full of ideas that we passed along to @jenheddle and turned it into amazing novel.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@JAUBenson: “@pablohidalgo @claudiagray @jenheddle The novel itself was a good read and amazingly written, but I take issue with what we are being given.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/729693719104905216">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@JAUBenson <b>The story of his fall, when it started, how he reacted to what, etc. isn't out there, so careful with assuming how it happened</b>.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(May 15, 2016; re: timeline around Bloodline)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/732087760257835009">Pablo Hidalgo:</a> “@Keikerdo When's the last time you think anyone's seen them?”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@Keikerdo: “@pablohidalgo 6 years from bloodline right?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/732088256414650368">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@Keikerdo Nothing in Bloodline suggests anyone has seen Luke or Ben recently.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@Keikerdo: “@pablohidalgo I could swear that leia remarks about not being able to get communications through due to transmission problems”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/732088689724002304">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@Keikerdo What I'm saying is, we know the timeline. We know Han's reaction to Kylo's unmasked face. We know all this. Honestly!”</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/732089127248629760">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@Keikerdo Luke &amp; Ben have not been part of Han &amp; Leia's life while they undertake something else. That's important. It's part of the story.”</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/732089226162929665">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@Keikerdo And what might seem one thing upon a first impression might warrant a second look as more stories are told.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@Keikerdo: “@pablohidalgo Hmm.. seem like a gap between "Luke's been missing a long time" to well... 6 years. But maybe it will he smoothed out.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/732090074410536960">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@Keikerdo There's more to tell, especially when it comes to Luke's accessibility. Even still, an Empire fell in less than six years.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Oct 17, 2016)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/erinnpascal/status/788060730314530816">@ErinnPascal</a>: “@pablohidalgo Is it confirmed that Kylo/Ben is the one who destroyed Luke's Jedi Temple?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/788062737901293568">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “@erinnpascal <b>Kylo is the "Jedi killer", the one who destroyed what Luke was trying to build</b>. But obviously, no specifics yet.”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Mar 27, 2019)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/WarpCoreCammy/status/1110584256017780736">@WarpCoreCammy</a>: “RJ consulted the LSG for story beat approval in TLJ, did he not? Did that include you, or just Kiri Hart? What the LSG should have stopped was canon breaking instances like hyperspace ramming, don't you think? Covering it with books explaining "special shields" isn't sufficient.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ArcherTyrell/status/1110845955933298690">@ArcherTyrell</a>: “And, y'know, the whole "I tried to murder my nephew and now I'm going to hang out on this rock drinking hippo lizard milk while my friends and family die because I don't want to be worshipped", thing.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/1110986369680052225">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “<b>(He never tried to kill him.)</b> Luke in exile predates TLJ by a long time, and came from someone who can very happily and rightly supersede anyone's feedback. :).”</p>
<p class="caps">Response thread 1 (to "anyone's feedback")</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ArcherTyrell/status/1110984262558384129">@ArcherTyrell</a>: “If you held a gun over a child as they slept, then said, "Well, it was a momentary thing", I doubt you'd have a lot of supporters. As a teacher and mentor, even thinking about killing a young person in your care is unacceptable to the extreme. Dark side or no, it's not Luke.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/1110986369680052225">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “Is it Obi-Wan? :) <b>i guess i tend to take Luke's word in the final telling rather than Kylo's</b>.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ArcherTyrell/status/1110990027922628608">@ArcherTyrell</a>: “I suppose if Obi-Wan tried to murder Anakin in his sleep in Episode I, I could see it. At any rate, Luke proved himself more compassionate in Episode VI than the Jedi who came before him.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ArcherTyrell/status/1110990240720871424">@ArcherTyrell</a>: “And didn't Luke admit he drew his saber? Or was in an accident?” <span class="small">[emoji: "beaming face with smiling eyes"]</span></em>
</p>
<p class="caps">Response thread 2 (to "anyone's feedback")</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/WarpCoreCammy/status/1110916305387872256">@WarpCoreCammy</a>: “Luke loses his temper and holds back from killing his extremely powerful Sith Lord butcher father while fully in defense mode but decides he should maybe kill his then innocent sleeping nephew, progeny of his beloved sister. Got it. Perfectly natural.” <span class="small">[emoji: "smirking face"]</span></em>
</p>
<p class="caps">Response thread 2A (to "Perfectly natural")</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/1110922184057184256">Pablo Hidalgo</a>: “You (and Kylo) have a very different read of that scene than others do. :)”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/BearsFanJordan/status/1110923146545254404">@BearsFanJordan</a>: “He considers it before coming to his senses. That's the difference between Luke and his father. Anakin acted on his worst instincts, Luke gets them but never acts on them. Not to mention he sensed good in Vader but complete evil in Ben.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">Pablo Hidalgo: “<b>I'd argue he never even considered it beyond an instinctive reaction to the darkness.</b> That he brought a weapon with him was crucial. "Only what you take with you..." and all that. <b>Any wonder he reacts to the lightsaber the way he does?</b>”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ArcherTyrell/status/1110986890264625155">@ArcherTyrell</a>: “What it comes down to is, beyond dark and light, is Luke the kind of person whose first instinct is to draw a weapon on a sleeping student in his care? As fans rush to defend or excuse Luke's actions, no one is considering that anyone who did this would be considered a monster.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/jere7my/status/1110990532187176960">@jere7my</a>: “If said student was sleeping next to their own weapon and you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt they planned to commit a school shooting the next day I suspect opinions would be more nuanced. (And even so the movie clearly presents that as a terrible mistake.)”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ArcherTyrell/status/1110994270952005635">@ArcherTyrell</a>: “You're joking, right?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/jere7my/status/1110994747659833344">@jere7my</a>: “I don't see anything in there that looks like a joke.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ArcherTyrell/status/1110995819862331392">@ArcherTyrell</a>: “You're implying that shooting a young person in your care because they are planning a shooting is ambiguous at best. A person in your care is someone who, when they need help, you help them. You don't kill them.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">Pablo Hidalgo: “You jumped to shooting him. :/”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ArcherTyrell/status/1110996800377446400">@ArcherTyrell</a>: “You're twisting my meaning. C'mon now, Mr. Hidalgo, you're better than that.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">Pablo Hidalgo: “I think the impasse is <b>you equate his actions as an attempt to kill. I don't.</b> And never the twain shall meet.”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/ArcherTyrell/status/1110998174133567489">@ArcherTyrell</a>: “So what was the intent, then? To get a better look at him?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">Pablo Hidalgo: “<b>To confront him. And he was surprised by what he found.</b>”</p>
<p class="caps">Response thread 2B (to "Perfectly natural")</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/LoneRico/status/1110924658776236032">@LoneRico</a>: “He was tempted by dark feelings for a moment (again) and felt weak for even thinking about them that long. The dark side is subtle, but thats all it needed to bring Ben to the dark. Luke felt that things were all his fault for even having that much temptation and went to exile.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/toastedzen/status/1110941252688580608">@toastedzen</a>: “I just love the brief moment of anger on Mark's face in both these shots, and then he realizes the pull of the dark side and lets it go.” <span class="small">[Image 1: screenshot of Luke raising his lightsaber to face Vader in Return of the Jedi; image 2: screenshot of Luke appearing monstrous raising his lightsaber in Kylo's version of the flashback in The Last Jedi]</span></em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/GeekyRetroNerds/status/1110942544769232897">@GeekyRetroNerds</a>: “Absolutely!”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">Pablo Hidalgo: “<b>(And one of those images isn't 'real') :)</b>”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/GeekyRetroNerds/status/1110943349324857345">@GeekyRetroNerds</a>: “Evil Luke, from Ben's point of view....”</em>
</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Hildago's tweets weren't canon publications, but he has thorough knowledge of canon since writing about Star Wars is literally his job and he has authored numerous canon reference books. Sometimes his tweets were flippant or jokey, deliberately misleading, or simply mistaken, but he was consistent and clear that Ben/Kylo was a <b>"murderer"</b> who became the <b>"Jedi killer"</b> at the <b>"burning temple"</b> and <b>"destroyed what Luke was trying to build"</b>. Hidalgo reiterated that the Databank and Visual Dictionaries are factual, not speculation, when a fan dismissed them as official sources. Keep in mind that he also had a recurring reply to questions about whether or not something was canon: “ "canon" (ugh) ”, felt his own tweets were unhelpful for speculation, and worked hard to avoid spoilers for future content.]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Tweets-JasonFry" name="Tweets-JasonFry"></a>
</p>
<h4>Tweets from Jason Fry, author of <em>The Last Jedi</em> expanded novelization</h4>
<p>
  <em>(Nov 27, 2018) </em>
</p>
<p>
  <a id="Tweets-JasonFry-2018-11-27" name="Tweets-JasonFry-2018-11-27"></a>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/jasoncfry/status/1067462824279052288">Jason Fry</a>: “My key addition to the third flashback -- one of those things easier done on-page than on-screen -- is that <b>Luke knows what he saw in Ben's mind will come to pass, and Ben knows it too</b>. That shared knowledge is the Shakespearean cast of the die, from which neither can retreat.”</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/jasoncfry/status/1067463877716336641">Jason Fry</a>: “Note that Luke's impulse to strike is a "brief, almost unwilling thought." He explicitly says he can't bring his saber down on his sister's son while he sleeps -- a repurposing and inversion of the same line as presented in Flashback #2.</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[See <a href="#TLJ-notes">my notes on TLJ</a> for more on this. Fry wrote the canon novelization and provided extensive commentary via Twitter on his writing process.]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Tweets-CharlesSoule" name="Tweets-CharlesSoule"></a>
</p>
<h4>Tweets from Charles Soule, writer of <em>The Rise of Kylo Ren</em>
</h4>
<p>
  <em>(Dec 11, 2019; teaser comments on previews for issue #1)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/CharlesSoule/status/1204785677591863297">Charles Soule</a>: “Ben Solo, coming to a dark understanding.”</p>
<p class="indent">Charles Soule: “And now a ship, coming down, seeing the same thing Ben sees, but from a different perspective - the same realization, but a different understanding.”</p>
<p class="indent">Charles Soule: “Ben being Ben. He doesn't like being challenged under the best of circumstances, and he's also under enormous stress here.”</p>
<p class="indent">Charles Soule: “Oooooh. This went south fast. (And it wasn't great to begin with.)”</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Soule has not offered much commentary via Twitter on the content of his TROKR series, but he tweeted these teasers before it premiered. They don't offer particular insights, but they're here for archival purposes.]</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Tweets-CharlesSoule-2020-11-18" name="Tweets-CharlesSoule-2020-11-18"></a>
</p>
<p>
  <em>(November 18, 2020; followed on from <a href="#Tweets-MattMartin-2020-09-20">this exchange with Matt Martin</a>)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/bhower1138/status/1329130048423649280">@bhower1138</a>: “Still curious about this, so per Matt's suggestion, even though it's probably a long shot, @CharlesSoule any chance you'd be willing to shed some light on what exactly we're seeing happen in those RoKR flashbacks?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/CharlesSoule/status/1329143633006776322">Charles Soule</a>: “Sure”</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/bhower1138/status/1329148497472401409">@bhower1138</a>: “Okay, so to be honest I can't tell if this it a joking "Sure there's a *chance*" and it'll just be left at that or if you're waiting on a follow-up <span class="small">[emoji: smiling with cold sweat]</span><br/>
    But if it's the latter, I'm mostly curious about the lightning strike and whether it was something accidentally created by (1/2) <span class="small">[<a href="https://twitter.com/bhower1138/status/1329148604947292160">cont.</a>]</span> Ben's anger, or if it was Palpatine's work as most people including me thought after first reading it.<br/> 
Anyway, thanks for responding. Love your work and I can't wait for Light of the Jedi <span class="small">[emoji: grinning face]</span>”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/CharlesSoule/status/1329148579596935170">Charles Soule</a>: “There's a chance” <span class="small">[<a href="https://archive.is/mqzub">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/bhower1138/status/1329148716616445953">@bhower1138</a>: “lol fair enough” <span class="small">[<a href="https://twitter.com/bhower1138/status/1329148716616445953/likes">"liked"</a> by Soule]</span></em>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <br/>
  <a id="Tweets-MattMartin" name="Tweets-MattMartin"></a>
</p>
<h4>Tweets from Matt Martin, creative executive for Lucasfilm Story Group (all text errors sic)</h4>
<p>
  <em>(Dec 15, 2018; much of the discussion was between other people, so this only includes what Martin replied to.)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/MitchyD/status/1074082357584420865">@MitchyD</a>: “Rewatched The Last Jedi this morning with @MelRambles after watching The Force Awakens last night.<br/><br/>
Luke is EXACTLY who TFA sets him up to be — Rian took JJ's script seriously, moving ahead with what was clearly setup. And it's absolutely gorgeous and heartbreaking.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074098223910776832">Matt Martin</a>: “I'm always so surprised that the anti-TLJ Luke crowd don't see this. Love it or hate it, <b>that was the story since 2015</b>.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200516094728/https:/twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074098223910776832">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p class="caps">Response thread 1 (to "that was the story since 2015"):</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/HyperHolocrons/status/1074099618873524224">@HyperHolocrons</a>: “Agree to disagree on that one.  That's not the vibe I got at all.  Why go to the jedi temple to sulk or give up?  Nah, I read it as going there to re-connect with the Force in order to get it right.  Then again, I'm not one who says think like me or I block you, etc either...lol”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074101163841093632">Matt Martin</a>: “This line seems pretty clear to me but maybe I'm just too close to it: "<b>One boy, an apprentice turned against him, destroyed it all.  Luke felt responsible...  He just walked away from everything</b>."” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200516211305/https:/twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074101163841093632">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074101820916621313">Matt Martin</a>: “To be fair, in 2015 I could see how one with a very optimistic worldview could read into that line differently but <b>in a post-TLJ world it's hard to see that line and think that wasn't the intention all along</b>. That was definitely how I read it from the start.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200516211444/https:/twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074101820916621313">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Nemo19089/status/1074102272915849224">@Nemo19089</a>: “People act like Luke left to find the first Jedi Temple to find some hidden knowledge, or some sort of new power that could be used against snoke. But there's nothing and either film that indicates as such. he is definitely going through Exile, and returning was not an option”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074102781189836800">Matt Martin</a>: “Yeah. <b>Han's line definitely seems to imply that Luke left out of a feeling of loss, failure, and depression rather than on a righteous quest</b>.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200516211820/https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074102781189836800">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p class="caps">Response thread 2 (to "that was the story since 2015"):</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/fulcrumandor/status/1074103490929192961">@fulcrumandor</a>: “I see it as being the story that's been told since 1977. Luke's always been that character- he's more fearful than he'd like to admit, and he blames himself when things go wrong. He also realized the Jedi might not be doing it right, &amp; considering the prequels, he has a point.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074104428259508224">Matt Martin</a>: “For sure. He was a humble man who had a meteoric rise punctuated by success after success. Can you blame him for taking it really hard when <b>he finally truly failed--and failed in a way that has ramifications far beyond just himself?</b>” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200516212015/https:/twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074104428259508224">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/fulcrumandor/status/1074106268447637504">@fulcrumandor</a>: “The "I'm endangering the mission" scene in ROTJ &amp; him choosing to go to Cloud City especially show why he made the decisions that he made. He spent his life idolizing the Jedi and then it failed him. He also saved Anakin from the dark side- something he couldn't do for Ben.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/bossksbounty/status/1074112165316124672">@bossksbounty</a>: “To be fair he didn't really try to save Ben. Or we don't see that or hear about it. Ben hadn't actually done anything except have dark thoughts before Luke had his 2 seconds of madness. Then Ben turned and destroyed it all.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074112723464548353">Matt Martin</a>: “<b>I don't think it's safe to assume all that. That full story really hasn't been told yet</b>.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200516095433/https:/twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074112723464548353">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/bossksbounty/status/1074113609045823489">@bossksbounty</a>: “Agree we only have what bits he told Rey but it seemed that he didn't really give Ben a chance. Hopefully we will see.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074115175022645249">Matt Martin</a>: “<b>Based on Han and Leila's conversation in TFA, I would assume that the signs were their long before the night Luke confronted him</b>.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://archive.is/XZPyd">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p class="caps">Response thread 3 (to "that was the story since 2015"):</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/colinlewis/status/1074327625185673216">@colinlewis</a>: “Did Luke fail or did Snoke win? This is why the Snoke side of Ben's falling to the dark side is so important and Rian didn't give that to us. The pieces to this part of the story are too clunky and too much is told offscreen. That's a huge part of the frustration.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1074369961479462912">Matt Martin</a>: “We are only two movies in.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://archive.is/EjJ8F">archived</a>]</span></p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[As with Pablo Hidalgo, Matt Martin's tweets are not canon. Unlike Hidalgo, he is not involved in creating the films; his focuses are the non-film creations. He sometimes responds to tweets about the films anyway.]</em>
  </span>
</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Oct 29, 2019; re: photo of the confusing page in the Absolutely Everything book <a href="#AEYNTK-2">about the Knights of Ren destroying the temple</a>) </em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@BelleParadisa: “Hold up...what? Who destroys Luke's Jedi academy??” <span class="small">[image of the page]</span></em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@SarahSahim: “not to "is this canon?" you, but has this been corroborated elsewhere or is it conjecture on the author's part?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@BelleParadisa: “These are the writing credits in the back of the book, interesting that they thank Pablo Hidalgo and Matt Martin” <span class="small">[image]</span></em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1189403905852985349">Matt Martin</a>: “<b>The real story will be told, to some extent at least</b>, in the Rise of Kylo Ren comic series.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191030045324/https:/twitter.com/missingwords/status/1189403905852985349">archived</a>]</span></p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
</div><p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[Martin was credited on TROKR as part of the Lucasfilm story group. This vague reply wasn't surprising since the comic hadn't even been released yet; after all, why answer this on Twitter when getting answers was an incentive to purchase? However, he could have noted how the information on that page was not corroborated by other sources despite appearing in an official reference.]</em>
  </span>
</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Dec 24, 2019 #1; re: <a href="#TROS-VD">TROS VD</a> vs. TROKR)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/CallMeBenSolo/status/1209450052890038275">@CallMeBenSolo</a>: “Got my Visual Dictionary and you know what? I'd rather not have a whole book of shoe-horned factoids they made up at the last minute for The Retcon of Skywalker.<br/>
That's $16 that will be going to AITAF instead.” <span class="small">[link: the <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/bensoloslegacy">fundraiser</a>]</span></em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/elinadima14/status/1209450689010847744">@elinadima14</a>: “This book contradicts the rise of Kylo Ren as well.. They are pathetic.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/CallMeBenSolo/status/1209451186597908481">@CallMeBenSolo</a>: “Ugh really?! I couldn't even look at it. It makes me sick.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/elinadima14/status/1209452186389897218">@elinadima14</a>: “Yeap. It says that Kylo was responsible for what happened at the temple.”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/garbage_citizen/status/1209470003180920833">@garbage_citizen</a>: “@missingwords  how does that happen?<br/>
    <br/>
    Rise of Kylo said no, it wasn't Ben's fault.<br/>
    This book says so?<br/>
    <br/>
    Or is it wording? Did ppl understand it wrong? Or will it make sense when we've read ALL Rise of Kylo Ren issues from Charles?”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209528928097853442">Matt Martin</a>: “<b>Rise of Kylo doesn't say no. I'm not sure where the misinterpretation comes from, it seems clear to me</b>, but I'm not going to explain it in depth now before the whole series is even out. Suffice to say, <b>it's not a contradiction and both essentially say the same thing</b>.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191224174634/https:/twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209528928097853442">archived</a>; tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209528928097853442/likes">"liked" by</a> Charles Soule]]</span></p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>─────────────</p>
</div><p>
  <em>(Dec 24, 2019 #2; re: <a href="#TROS-VD">TROS VD</a> vs. TROKR; Martin's initial response is 1 sentence different from above)</em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/wreckitmaedhros/status/1209499604791640064">@wreckitmaedhros</a>: “Uh… @missingwords, I'm terribly confused...” <span class="small">[embed: a tweet by @virgorens, which is now renamed and private, with the text "???" and 2 images. Image 1: photographed page from TROS VD with a border around "Ben sets the temple ablaze and runs away"; image 2: digital page from TROKR #1 of the lightning hitting the temple and the explosion throwing Ben back]</span></em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209530159516094464">Matt Martin</a>: “<b>I'm not sure where the misinterpretation comes from, it seems clear to me,</b> but I'm not going to explain it in depth now before the whole series is even out. Suffice to say, <b>it's not a contradiction and both essentially say the same thing</b>.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191224175421/https:/twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209530159516094464">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p class="caps">Response thread 1 (to "both essentially say the same thing"):</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/roguewn/status/1209534124672929792">@roguewn</a>: “are you implying ben set the temple on fire with the force, unwillingly? because otherwise it doesn't make sense to say he destroyed the temple, when the comic shows that he didn't.<br/>
<br/>
sorry, just trying to figure things out here, it's really confusing :( ”</em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209534655491215360">Matt Martin</a>: “Did you read the whole comic or just that one page? (Not trying to be mean here, I just know how <b>comic pages get passed around Reddit without full context</b>).” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191224181602/https:/twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209534655491215360">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p class="caps">Response thread 1A (to "without full context"):</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Reyllos/status/1209539941866364930">@Reyllos</a>: “I bought the comic and read it before TROS and there was a while panel of Ben watching the fire and saying he didn't want that? They didn't show him setting fire to anything. I'm honestly...confused”</em>
</p><p>
  <em></em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209540188470296576">Matt Martin</a>: [no text in reply, just an animated gif: <em>Revenge of the Sith,</em> Anakin Skywalker is in Palpatine's office immediately after Mace Windu's death; Anakin is distraught and screams "What have I done?"] <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191224183212/https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209540188470296576">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p>
  <em></em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/raz_kal/status/1209540505761128448">@raz_kal</a>: “So he did it unwillingly? Or he did it but regretted immediately after? Or he was out of control of his power and emotions?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Reyllos/status/1209540657796329474">@Reyllos</a>: “Ah wait I'm slow. That's what he meant? <span class="small">[emoji: "face with tears of joy"]</span> I need coffee”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/raz_kal/status/1209540862713184259">@raz_kal</a>: “Yeah I think he meant it as a parallel to Anakin”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Reyllos/status/1209541068150235137">@Reyllos</a>: “I see that gif used so many times as a reaction meme my mind jumped to that before the actual scene skshskhsjsnsns sorry, okay okay now I get it” <span class="small">[emoji: "face with tears of joy"]</span></em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209541324673695744">Matt Martin</a>: “It does apply to me lately as well. Pretty much every time I come on Twitter.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191224184512/https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209541324673695744">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="caps">Response thread 1B (to "without full context"):</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/roguewn/status/1209535239443365890">@roguewn</a>: “unfortunately the comic is not out in my country, so I'm reading whatever pages get published here and there :( I thought only a few pages dealt with luke's jedi temple, that's why! so I guess that by reading the whole comic one gets a more extensive answer?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209535741975359488">Matt Martin</a>: “It should at least make it a little more clear.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191224181126/https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209535741975359488">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="caps">Response thread 2 (to "both essentially say the same thing"):</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/iam_thesenate/status/1209538351151374337">@iam_thesenate</a>: “There are ppl who have read more than that one page and it seemed pretty clear to them so idk if this is just going to be another retcon”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/e_claire18/status/1209541897737441280">@e_claire18</a>: “I think, like Rey, he got angry &amp; it caused the lightening. It wasn't a conscious choice but a moment of blind rage &amp; when he snapped back he was horrified with what happened? So not a retcon but goes with it. Not what he wanted but a consequence of being Vader's grandson...” <span class="small">[image: panel of Ben saying "I never… I didn't want this."]</span></em>
</p>
<p>
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  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209542184619298821">Matt Martin</a>: “<b>That panel reminds me very much of this moment</b>.” <em>[animated gif: the same as before of Anakin screaming "What have I done?"]</em> <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200129214819/https:/twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209542184619298821">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="caps">Response thread 3 (to "both essentially say the same thing"):</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em>@crogmen: “Oh, so Disney Lucasfilm is going to rewrite and undone everything what has been set up before the reddit fanbro TROS came out and destroyed everything? It's like someone says 2+6=94 and demands you to re-create science to make his stupid shit acceptable...jfc” <span class="small">[emoji: "nauseated face"]</span></em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209541763255291904">Matt Martin</a>: “I'm going to ask politely but if you don't reply in kind I'm just going to block you: what exactly do you see as a retcon here? I'm not saying everything we've put out is flawless but <b>what specific piece of official content does this retcon?</b>” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191224184826/https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1209541763255291904">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p>
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    </em></p>
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  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
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</div><em><em><br/>    </em><br/>  </em>
<p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[This exchange happened when only the first issue of TROKR was out, along with TROS. The first time Martin replied with the Anakin reaction gif, it was initially unclear if it reflected Martin himself ("What have I, Matt Martin, done?") or as a comparison between Anakin's reaction to his part in Mace's death with Ben's reaction after the temple destruction, or both. He used it a second time as a comparison between Anakin and Ben.]</em>
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<p>
  <em>(Mar 17, 2020) </em>
</p>
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</p>
<p class="indent"><em><a href="https://twitter.com/PolarPhantom1/status/1239951691551772673">@PolarPhantom1</a>: “JJ Abrams claimed Rey being a Palpatine was meant to help "explain" why she's so good at the Force, but other sources contradict this, that she didn't inherit any Force Sensitivity from this.</em><br/>
    <br/> 
    <em>I know you didn't work on TROS, but do you have a take?”</em></p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1239957803818610688">Matt Martin</a>: “My personal take is that the the Force awakened within her to combat the shift of balance caused by <b>Ben's destruction of the temple and Jedi</b> (has little, if anything, to do with her lineage). But what's great about the Force is that it's mystical and can be interpreted many ways.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200317172234/https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1239957803818610688">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p>
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<p class="caps">Response thread 1 (to "interpreted many ways"):</p>
<p>
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    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/toawaterfowl/status/1239959124277891077">@toawaterfowl</a>: “Did Ben destroy the temple, similar how Rey blew up a ship? Or was it Palpatine. The comic has it ambiguous and Ben is shaken after Luke's attempted murder?”</em>
</p>
<p>
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    <em></em>
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<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1239959897300553728">Matt Martin</a>: “<b>The movie says he did it but it could still be ambiguous, sure. And if it's ambiguous I'm not going to change that with a tweet.</b> I'm just using that terminology as shorthand for my answer to a separate question.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200317173807/https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1239959897300553728">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/LaMorellina/status/1239961842518196225">@LaMorellina</a>: “One thing I would dearly like to know: since the saga is over and done with, why keeping the ambiguity?<br/>
    Isn't it the time for rolling out and answering some question?<br/>
    Kylo Ren is the biggest mystery box even now that he's dead. Because he's dead, right?<br/>
    Or he isn't?”</em>
</p>
<p>
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    <em></em>
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<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1239962450943860737">Matt Martin</a>: “I do think keeping some things unanswered will always keep the story more interesting. And when it's things regarding the Force, it only gets less interesting the more it's explained. But additional stories will be told with these characters but not by me on Twitter.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200317173807/https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1239962450943860737">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p>
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<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/toawaterfowl/status/1239964260752490496">@toawaterfowl</a>: “Some ambiguity choices are quite frustrating. So are competing narratives in different supplementary media. I have to admit, I considered asking someone today if The Last Jedi, the movie, is canon still. So there, I asked it.”</em>
</p>
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<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1239964578982686723">Matt Martin</a>: “<b>Yes, of course it is.</b>” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200317172804/https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1239964578982686723">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p>
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<p class="caps">Response thread 2 (to "interpreted many ways"):</p>
<p>
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    <em></em>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/valeriefinnigan/status/1239974070126399489">@valeriefinnigan</a>: “The Rise of Kylo Ren comics make it clear that Ben did not destroy the temple.”</em>
</p>
<p>
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<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1239974476638388229">Matt Martin</a>: “<b>I don't think it makes that clear but it does leave it a little ambiguous.</b> That said, it's a much easier shorthand to use in my answer above. Especially when limited to 280 characters.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200317183826/https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1239974476638388229">archived</a>]</span></p>
<p>
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<p class="indent"><em><a href="https://twitter.com/valeriefinnigan/status/1239976786844200964">@valeriefinnigan</a>: “I don't think it's ambiguous. Ben wasn't even in the temple when it was blasted with somebody's force lightning. He said plainly that he didn't want that, but left in a panic because Voe blamed him. No intent, no motive, plus a solid alibi = not guilty.</em><br/>
    <br/>
    <em>Snoke or Palps did it.”</em></p>
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<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1239977907813896192">Matt Martin</a>: “<b>That's one way to read it.</b>” <span class="small">[<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200317183353/https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1239977907813896192">archived</a>]</span></p>
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  <p>»»»»»»»»»»<span class="small"> notes </span>««««««««««</p>
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<p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>[These longer exchanges came out after the final issue of TROKR. He started off with <b>"Ben's destruction of the temple and Jedi"</b> and <b>"the movie says he did it"</b>, then acknowledged different interpretations are possible (but not canon) without completely shutting down people's speculation and fanon.</em>
  </span>
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<p class="align-justify">
  <span>
    <em>A good way to put his responses about ambiguity and readings into greater context is <a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1245457260135907328">his retweet of an io9 article</a> about how people approach canon: "YES!!!! Everyone should read this. It's a much more articulate way of discussing something I've often tried to crunch down into 280 characters. It's also why I choose to not answer, or give frustratingly vague answers, to many questions thrown my way here on Twitter."]</em>
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<p>
  <em>(May 17, 2020) </em>
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<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/MarkLangston10/status/1262083470635028482">@MarkLangston10</a>: “Hey do you guys have a number in mind as far as the size of Luke's new order? Do you think it's possible it reached into the hundreds or was it just dozens?”</em>
</p>
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<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1262088300266848256">Matt Martin</a>: “It hasn't been established yet but given what is known about what happens, hundreds seems implausible.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://archive.is/lGjJO">archived</a>]</span></p>
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</div><em><em><br/>      <a id="Tweets-MattMartin-2020-09-20" name="Tweets-MattMartin-2020-09-20"></a><br/>    </em><br/>  </em>
<p>
  <em>(September 20, 2020) </em>
</p>
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<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/bhower1138/status/1307861650100322307">@bhower1138</a>: “@missingwords Sorry to bother you, but I was curious now that Rise of Kylo Ren has been out for a bit if you could clarify the destruction of the temple because there's still some confusion amongst my friends and I. Was the lightning something Ben caused on accident?”</em>
</p>
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<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/bhower1138/status/1307861655636905986">@bhower1138</a>: “Everyone I knew thought it was Snoke/Palpatine since Ben looks confused just before the lightning hits and he pops in to Ben's head right after, but back after issue 1 came out you also said that the comic didn't contradict the visual dictionary saying that Ben destroyed it.”</em>
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<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1307874788572950530">Matt Martin</a>: “<b>I'd really rather not completely explain things like this</b>. It sort of ruins the magic. You can try asking the writer if he feels like getting into it.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://archive.is/Ej3WH">archived</a> — <em>see also: @bhower1138 took the suggestion to <a href="#Tweets-CharlesSoule-2020-11-18">ask Charles Soule</a></em>]</span></p>
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<p>
  <em>(September 30, 2020) </em>
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<p class="indent">
  <em><a href="https://twitter.com/Elektrox2/status/1311499912522203139">@Elektrox2</a>: “@missingwords Hey Matt, I have a question about the destruction of Luke's Jedi Temple. Is The Rise of Kylo Ren imply that this was destroyed by someone else? Like Snoke or Sidious ? Or is it Ben Solo who unconsciously destroyed the Temple in his rage?”</em>
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<p class="indent"><a href="https://twitter.com/missingwords/status/1311505257353023490">Matt Martin</a>: “<b>The latter is more my read on it</b>.” <span class="small">[<a href="https://archive.is/wtisD">archived</a>]</span></p>
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      <a id="Footnotes2" name="Footnotes2"></a>
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<h3>
  <b>Footnotes</b>
</h3>
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  </em>
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<p class="align-justify">
  <a id="foot5" name="foot5"></a>
  <sup>
    <a href="#return5">5</a>
  </sup>
  <span class="small">The infamous "Fandom Menace" has an ongoing hatred of Tricia Barr easily summed up as "being a woman who disagrees with them" since she is concerned with representation and inclusion. Reylo shippers criticized and some of them harassed Barr for her article in <em>Star Wars Insider</em> #193, "Resistance Reborn," which paralleled Kylo's behavior towards Rey in TLJ with Lenore Walker's "cycle of abuse" model of domestic violence. They framed her article as just one random author's personal opinion that inexplicably got printed, rather than the official magazine soliciting one of their longtime contributors to write a TLJ retrospective with their editorial oversight. Barr has authored and co-authored <em>Star Wars</em> reference books, <em>Insider</em> articles, and StarWars.com blog posts.</span>
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<p class="align-justify">
  <a id="foot6" name="foot6"></a>
  <sup>
    <a href="#return6">6</a>
  </sup>
  <span class="small">I'm unsure if he ever stated a reason, but Pablo Hidalgo deleted many of his tweets sometime in 2018 and eventually locked his Twitter sometime in October 2019. He was targeted for ongoing harassment by MRA/alt-right/anti-SJW/gamergate-aligned trolls. Nevertheless, many of his tweets were archived by the fandom; what URLs I've provided for Hidalgo's tweets actually go nowhere, but are there for archival purposes. I've sourced these from a combination of: other people's screenshots verified against secondary non-screenshot sources, forums such as <a href="https://thecantina.starwarsnewsnet.com/index.php">The Cantina</a> and <a href="https://boards.theforce.net">Jedi Council Forums</a>, text archive compilations that include Hidalgo's tweets such as <a href="https://swinfoground.wordpress.com">swinfoground</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org">Archive.org</a> backups, and verifying them whenever possible against still-active and non-protected Twitter accounts that were part of the conversations.</span>
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